DOHA: The maroons will attempt to cement their dominance over Group E of the Asian Qualifiers when they host India at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the joint FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 qualifiers on Thursday.

Despite having already sealed their place in the FIFA World Cup 2022 as hosts, Qatar are favourites to win Group E, which will seal their place in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Finals.

The reigning AFC Asian Cup titleholders have enjoyed an almost flawless qualifying campaign, with the 0-0 draw with India in September 2019, the only match Felix Sanchez’s side failed to win.

With Oman still within distance of Qatar, Sanchez will urge his players to target the three points against India.

Sanchez has named a strong 27-player squad for the Asian Qualifiers, with the likes of 2019 AFC Asian Cup topscorer Almoez Ali, Akram Afif and Hasan Alhaydos powering Qatar.

The West Asian side will not be lacking match exposure either, having registered impressive victories against Luxembourg (1-0) and Azerbaijan (2-1) before coming from a goal down to draw 1-1 against the Republic of Ireland in March.

Qatar registered a big 5-0 win over Bangladesh in their last Group E game on December 4, after the AFC decided to resume the joint Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the Asian Cup 2023 in China.

Seven matches remain in the qualifiers.

Qatar is currently on top of the Group E rankings with 16 points from six games, compared to 12 points from five matches for Oman, 4 for Afghanistan, 3 for India and one point for Bangladesh.

Qatar have already qualified for the 2022 World Cup finals as the host country but participate in these qualifiers to reach the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China, looking to defend the title they won in UAE in 2019. If Qatar wins the group, the number of Asian Cup qualifying spots allocated to the top runners-up teams will increase from four to five.

Qatar started their journey with a 6-0 win over Afghanistan before drawing 0-0 with India in the second round.

After that, they returned to winning ways and registered four consecutive victories, defeating Bangladesh 2-0, Oman 2-1, Afghanistan 1-0 and Bangladesh 5-0