Grenada up next for Qatar at CONCACAF Gold Cup
Qatar will be up against Grenada for the first time as Group D action resumes in the CONCACAF Gold Cup early tomorrow morning (2:30 AM Qatar time) at BBVA Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Qatar, who are making their debut at the continental competition as a guest, took a point from its back-and-forth encounter with Panama in their opening encounter on Wednesday, while Grenada suffered a 4-0 humiliating defeat to Honduras in the other game of the day.
It will be the second time Grenada faces off against a member of the Asian Football Confederation, while Qatar will face its sixth opponent from CONCACAF.
Qatar's match against Panama was quite the encounter for footballing fans who love wide-open play, although team manager Felix Sanchez was probably not too pleased with the result.
The Maroon had the lead versus the Panamanians three times, thanks to their two star 24-year-old forwards - Akram Afif and Almoez Ali. Afif had a goal and an assist, and team captain Hassan Al Haydos joined the scoring from the penalty spot, putting all three of Qatar's top 10 all-time scorers on the scoresheet. But they failed to hang on and ended up with a draw in what was probably the most exciting game to watch at the Gold Cup so far.
The 2022 World Cup hosts were uncharacteristically sloppy defensively, allowing three goals for the first time in a competitive match since October 2018 and allowing six shots on target, the most they have given up since conceding 12 shots on goal to Ghana in a 5-1 loss in October of last year.
Looking at the statistics, it seems pretty clear what needs improving on the Qatari side in their second match, and the team will be happy to be facing a team in Grenada who have only scored multiple goals once in their previous nine games.
While they were disappointed to not come away with three points in their first match, Qatar made a statement that they are a team to be feared and deserve to be playing at the World Cup next year.
The Spice Boys of Grenada, on the other hand, dropped their opener 4-0 to Honduras, although the score may not have been a clear indication of the game as Grenada fired only one less shot on target than the Hondurans during the encounter.
Jamal Charles remains the player to watch for Grenada with 10 goals to his name, six of them in the CONCACAF Nations League - the second most in League B.
Omar Beckles, who had a goal-saving header on Tuesday night, was the player with the most shots against Honduras with three.
A win tomorrow would catapult either side into the top spots in the group, setting it up in the driver's seat going into the final group stage match. If either side were to take the full three points, it would mark that nation's first Gold Cup victory.
Grenada has also never tied in seven previous matches at the Gold Cup. Qatar has yet to lose a match after tying in their debut last Tuesday.
The second round of matches in the group will be played in front of a capacity crowd in Houston as Grenada and Qatar face off before Honduras versus Panama.
Meanwhile, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Thani yesterday honored veteran defender Abdelkarim Hassan for clocking a century of international caps for the nation. The ceremony took place during the main training session of the team at Houston Park in Texas.
Abdelkarim Hassan, who emerged as the 2018 Best Player in Asia, is one of the key players who contributed to Qatar emerging champions of the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE.
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