The Qatar Football Association just appointed Felix Sanchez to coach the national team on their bid to the FIFA 2018 World Cup.
After Qatar beat South Korea 3-2 in Doha during the FIFA 2018 qualifiers last month, Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati stepped down from his position. While desperate to win the last two matches of the first round to qualify to the playoffs, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) appointed Felix Sanchez to coach the national team.
“Felix Sanchez will succeed Fossati as the national team coach for the last two matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Group A qualifiers,” QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani said in statement.
Qatar’s National Team – QFA
Sanchez, who has been coaching Qatar’s U-23 (Qatar Olympics Team), is the team’s third coach in less than a year.
Uruguayan Fossati, who coached Rayyan to win the Qatar Stars League in 2016, was appointed after, also Uruguayan, Daniel Carreno was sacked after Qatar lost to both Iran and Uzbekistan during the earlier matches of the qualifiers.
The Spaniard will be guiding the national team, as known as Al-Annabi (The Maroons), through qualifying matches against Syria and China on August 31 and September 5 respectively.
If Qatar is make it to the 2018 World Cup, the team will have to win both games, against Syria and China, while Uzbekistan will have to lose theirs.
Within the group, Iran has already qualified with 20 points while South Korea (13), Uzbekistan (12) and Syria (9) will be playing for second slot. Qatar has 7 points so far, and is followed by China who are at the bottom of the group with 6 points.
