Our first national football team suffered a painful and harsh loss by five goals without a response to its Emirati counterpart in the match that took place between them yesterday evening at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, in the sixth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, for the first group.
The goals of the match were scored by Fabio Lima, a “super hat-trick,” in the 4th, 42nd, 45th, and 62nd minutes, and Yahya Al-Ghassani in the 73rd minute. With this result, the UAE team raised its score to 10 points to take third place, while our team’s score froze at 7 points in fourth place.
The harsh loss greatly reduced Annabi’s chances of directly qualifying for the World Cup. The national team has no choice but to cling to the remaining hope for the continental and international playoffs, but that requires a radical correction of many mistakes.
Al-Anabi played one of its worst matches in the qualifiers, disappointing its fans with a lackluster and unexpected performance. The team’s defense made serious mistakes that gave the UAE their goals easily. Three goals came from set pieces, including two penalty kicks, while the first goal came from a disastrous incorrect pass from the Annabi defence. The defenders appeared at their worst, which made it easy for the UAE attack to penetrate the defense and score past goalkeeper Mishal Barshim.
The Spanish Marquez Lopez, coach of Al-Anabi, bears the primary responsibility for the painful loss, in addition to previous defeats, especially against Iran by four. Lopez failed to manage the match against a team that was not better than our team on paper, and he was unable to choose the appropriate formation or develop a clear strategy. The team seemed unable to build an organized attack, and their performance appeared haphazard and disjointed.
An inevitable decision
Coach Lopez’s departure has become inevitable, especially after the great delay in making this decision despite the continued decline in performance. After this harsh defeat, the team became in an unacceptable technical situation, and the points difference between Annabi and the rest of the teams in the group widened, making direct qualification almost impossible.
In addition to changing the coaching staff, it requires reconsidering some players who no longer have anything to offer the team. The national team needs an infusion of new blood and players capable of holding on to the difficult hope of qualifying through the playoffs.
In conclusion, despite the difficult situation, everyone must work to correct the mistakes and make the necessary efforts to preserve the remaining hope and restore confidence in Al Annabi as a strong representative of Qatari football.
Lopez: We made many mistakes
Spanish coach Marquez Lopez, the coach of our national team, expressed his great sadness after Al-Anabi lost by five unanswered goals in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
Lopez said in the press conference after the match, “The UAE national team achieved a well-deserved victory, and I congratulate them on it. We made a plan to play the match by waiting for the opposing team and relying on counterattacks, but Fabio Lima’s early goal confused our calculations and we made many mistakes.” He continued, saying, “After the 80th minute, when the score was five to nothing in favor of the UAE national team, it became clear to me that I could no longer do anything, so I sat on the bench.
He added, “We knew and were aware of the game plan that the UAE national team would adopt and its focus on exploiting our individual mistakes. Therefore, as soon as we made a mistake, he took advantage of it, and his players were good offensively.”