Saturday, May 28th 2016 03:56 PM
VIENNA: Qatar squad has kicked off a week of training sessions, their
first since the football season concluded last week.
Coached by Daniel Carreno, Qatar will play a friendly against Albania
on Sunday before winding down their training camp in Austria.
The squad's training camp is based 90-minute drive away from Vienna, a
Qatar Football Association (QFA) official said on Saturday.
Carreno is heading the two daily training sessions scheduled by the
team management.
With Qatar having qualified for the next stage of the 2018 FIFA World
Cup qualifying stage, the emphasis is on helping the squad retain
their playing groove ahead their September 1 clash against Iran.
Last week Carreno announced a long list of international friendlies
and those will be played in August.
"The game against Albania will be a good practice for the boys. We are
more concerned about the players remaining match-fit and injury-free,"
Carreno said before his departure with the squad.
According to Carreno, around 18 players could get a look-in for the
match against Albania.
In April, Qatar were drawn into Group A, along with Iran, South Korea,
Uzbekistan, China and Syria as the draw for the third and final round
of the 2018 World Cup Asian Zone qualification was conducted in Kuala
Lumpur.
Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Thailand form an equallycomplicated
Group B.
The third round will be played from September 1, 2016, to September 5, 2017.
The winner and runner-up of each group (four teams in total) will
qualify for the Russia finals while the two third-placed teams will
advance to the Asian play-off round.
The winner of it will take on the side that finishes fourth in the
fifth round of the CONCACAF qualifiers in a two-legged
inter-confederation play-off.