|
Veteran striker Sebastian Soria has been omitted from the 23-man Qatar squad for next month's AFC Asian Cup in Australia. Coach Djamel Belmadi -- a former Algerian midfielder who had a brief stint with Manchester City -- surprised many by excluding the Uruguay-born Lekhwiya striker and former national team captain. Belmadi had excluded the 31-year-old Soria for last month's Gulf Cup as well, which Qatar won by beating Saudi Arabia in the final. However, it was widely expected that Uruguay-born Soria -- who marked his 100th international by scoring in a friendly against Uzbekistan in October -- would be picked for the elite continental competition kicking off in Australia in January. Instead, Belmadi has focused on youth. Defender Abdelkarim Hassan and promising El Jaish striker of Ghanaian origin Mohammad Muntari are the prominent youngsters picked in the Al-Annabi squad Exciting 24-year-old Al Arabi winger of Algerian descent Boualem Khoukhi -- who provided the match-winner in November's 2-1 Gulf Cup final win against Saudi Arabia -- will be Qatar's key weapon in Australia. Qatar are drawn in the all-West Asian Group C of the competition -- billed the 'Group of Death' -- along with neighbours UAE and Bahrain. Fancied Iran, who impressed in the World Cup in Brazil, are the fourth team. Qatar reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in 2000 and 2011 when they were hosts. They will take on UAE in their first game on Jan. 11 in Canberra. Squad: Saad Al Sheeb, Ahmed Sufyan, Ahmadi Ali Mukhtar, Abdelkarim Hassan, Ibrahim Majid, Mohammed Musa, Khalid Muftah, Abdulrahman Issa, Abdulaziz Hatem, Qassem Burhan, Bilal Mohammed, Khalfan Ibrahim, Ali Assadalla, Karim Boudiaf, Mohammed Muntari, Majed Mohammed, Khaled Al Zereiqi, Boualem Khoukhi, Ahmed Abdelmaqsoud, Hassan Al-Haidos, Ismaeel Mohammad, Mohammed Tresor Abdullah, Meshaal Abdullah.
|
