Tribune News Network
Doha
Mohammed Muntari has made a comeback into the Qatar side after coach Marquez Lopez on Wednesday included the lanky forward in the squad for the crucial 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates.
Muntari recently made his return from a serious knee injury he sustained during Qatar’s friendly match against Cambodia ahead of the AFC Asian Cup in January. He subsequently underwent a surgery at the Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital and has completed a long period of rehabilitation.
The 30-year-old returned to action as a substitute for Al Gharafa in the Qatar Stars League on October 27 and promptly made an impact with a strike against his former club Al Duhail. He also came off the bench to score against Al Arabi last Thursday, but only made a brief cameo in Gharafa’s 1-1 draw against Persepolis in the AFC Champions League Elite match on Monday.
While Muntari’s return is undoubtedly a significant boost for Qatar, it remains to be seen how Lopez will integrate him into the starting XI. Qatar are in a spot of bother in their quest to qualify for the World Cup for the first time on merit.
The two-time Asian champions are on just four points from their opening four games, six adrift of Iran and Uzbekistan, who currently occupy the two automatic qualifying spots in Group A, and at risk of missing out once again on a place at the finals.
Qatar face a tough fixture against Uzbekistan at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha next Thursday, before travelling to Abu Dhabi to take on United Arab Emirates – to whom they have already lost to at home – at the Al Nahyan Stadium on November 19.
In their last World Cup qualifier, Qatar were convincingly beaten by Iran 1-4 and Lopez’s men will have to put in a much better performance against an in-form Uzbekistan if they harbour any hopes of keeping their chances alive.
Lopez has also drafted in Al Sadd’s midfielder Mustafa Tariq and Al Duhail’s left back Humam al-Amin, while leaving out Mohammed Ayash (Al Duhail), Naif al-Hadhrami (Al Shahania) and Ahmed Alaa (Al Arabi).
Despite a poor start to the campaign, Lopez has exuded confidence that Qatar can still reach the 2026 World Cup and has called on his players to fight tooth and nail in the remaining matches to achieve their target.
"Our goal has not changed, which is to qualify for the World Cup, and the opportunity is still there, although the group includes good teams such as Uzbekistan and Iran,” he said after the loss to Iran last month.
"The mission is not easy, but the opportunity to qualify is available and we have to fight for our chances until the last breath. There are still matches and many points that we must work hard to get.”
Qatar have never qualified for the World Cup, only securing their place at the 2022 tournament as hosts, and the closest the nation has come to progressing through the preliminaries was ahead of 1998 France World Cup when they lost out to Saudi Arabia.
The top two finishers in each of Asia’s three qualifying groups advance to the World Cup while the third and fourth-placed nations progress to a further round of preliminaries.
Qatar squad
Goalkeepers: Marwan Sherif (Al Ahli), Meshaal Barsham (Al Sadd), Saad al-Sheeb (Al Sadd), Salah Zakaria (Al Duhail)
Defenders: Abdelrahman Moustafa (Al Ahli), Abdullah Al Yazidi, (Al Sadd), Abdelkarim Hassan (Al Wakrah), Ahmed Fathy (Al Arabi), Ahmed Al Ganehi (Al Gharafa), Bassam Al Rawi (Al Duhail), Boualem Khoukhi (Al Duhail), Homam Al Amin (Al Gharafa), Ibrahim Al Hassan (Cultural Leonesa – Spain), Tarek Salman (Al Sadd), Sultan Al Brake (Al Duhail), Lucas Mendez (Al Wakrah)
Midfielders: Almahdi Ali (Al Wakrah), Ismaeel Mohammad (Al Duhail), Jassim Jaber (Al Arabi), Mohammed Waad (Al Sadd), Mostafa Tarek (Al Sadd), Yousef Abdulrazaq (Al Gharafa), Abdulaziz Hatem (Al Rayyan)
Forwards: Akram Afif (Al Sadd), Almoez Ali (Al Duhail), Edmilson Junior (Al Duhail), Mohammed Muntari (Al Gharafa).