In the opening match of the World Cup, Qatar unexpectedly lost to the seemingly weaker Ecuadorian team, the group outlook is worrying, it seems difficult to match the performance of the national team.
Many soccer fans generally believe that the strength of the Qatar team is far beyond the national team. If our country bid to host the World Cup, I am afraid that we will encounter Europe and America's strong team, the situation is not optimistic. So, how is the real strength of this Qatar team? The national team really inferior to them? Let's see me use the data for you to reveal.
History of the two teams
Since the turn of the century, the two teams have met 11 times, resulting in four wins, three draws and four losses.
Qatar beat China 1-0 in a friendly match in September 2018, with China's stats on the offensive end completely suppressed.
Player Composition
The national team is in dire need of a new generation, with veterans over the age of 30 such as Wu Xi, Wang Shenchao, Hao Junmin, Yu Dabao and Ji Zhongguo struggling to support the national team as their individual abilities have declined significantly. The new generation of players, such as Zhu Chenjie, Dai Weijun, Lin Liangming, etc., are still strong, but there is a serious shortage of reserves.
In terms of naturalized players, only Jiang Guangtai has some strength, Li Ke is still available, and the rest of the players are older. Although Luo Guofu, Alan and Eckerson play in Brazil, they are basically fringe players in the team.
Qatar has 14 naturalized players with a good age structure and veteran Haidos still has strength.
3 Recent performance
Lippi, the national team manager at the time, resigned angrily and the national football team lost 0-3 to Iran in the 2019 Asian Cup, missing out on the top eight.
Qatar, on the other hand, went all the way to win the Asian Cup, eventually defeating Asian juggernaut Japan 3-1.
The national team has not played an international match since the World Qualifiers.
Qatar, on the other hand, has performed well in consecutive tournaments such as the European Qualifiers, the America's Cup and the Gold Cup.
In the European qualifiers, Qatar beat Luxembourg and Azerbaijan to finish level on points with Ireland.
In the Copa America, Qatar drew with Paraguay and played Colombia and Argentina with quite satisfactory results.
In Qatar, the Qataris topped their group to reach the knockout rounds, beating El Salvador to reach the quarterfinals, and ultimately winning the U.S. title despite scoring only one goal.
Currently, the national team is not yet able to match the Qatari team in the above mentioned aspects.
To summarize, the overall strength of the Qatari team is at least two levels above that of the national team. Therefore, our decision not to bid for the World Cup was undoubtedly a wise one.
