Qatar pick young side to play All Whites after experienced players ‘exhausted’

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The All Whites’ next opponents are recovering from a training regime that’s left them mentally exhausted, says Qatar head coach Carlos Queiroz.

“We have a group of players that have been playing in the national team and loaded with camps and games, camps and games,” the Portuguese coach told Reuters.

“They’re mentally exhausted, a lot of those players, which is the worst fatigue in football, when you get bored and you have nothing inside you.”

Main photo: Qatar coach Carlos Queiroz … wants to reset his squad to prepare for the future.

New Zealand play Qatar on Tuesday (4am NZT) in Vienna, Austria, following their 4-1 loss to Sweden on Saturday.

Queiroz took over the coaching role after last year’s FIFA World Cup in which the host team exited at the group stage.

Preparation for the tournament had exhausted players and for the current international window, he had left a number of experienced players out of his squad in favour of young players.

“Mental fatigue is something that you can’t deal with unless you give the players some mental rest in order to refresh,” he said.

Queiroz says Qatar needed to reset for the future and his initial goal is a successful defence of the Asian Cup in January.

*The young Qatar side that beat Jamaica on Friday. Credit: Qatar Football Association.*

Qatar beat Jamaica 2-1 in a friendly in Vienna on Friday.

They took a 2-0 half-time lead through Homam Ahmed (31′) and Mohammed Muntari (39′) and withstood a Jamaican fightback in the second half, when the Reggae Boyz reduced the margin through a Shamar Nicholson penalty (61′).

Qatar are currently ranked #61 in the world, while Jamaica are rated #63.

New Zealand’s All Whites have a ranking of #100.

Qatar have agreed to play Russia in a friendly international in September, bringing together the hosts of the last two FIFA Men’s World Cups.

Russia were banned from the Qatar-hosted World Cup last year after the invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the war, Russia have played friendlies outside of FIFA’s jurisdiction against Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq.

Qatar squad

Goalkeepers

Jassim Al-Hail (Al-Arabi)
Mishaal Barshim (Al-Sadd)
Salah Zakaria (Al-Duhail)
Youssef Hassan (Al-Gharrafa)

Defenders

Hazem Ahmed (Al-Wakra)
Ahmed Suhail (Al-Arabi)
Jassim Jaber (Al-Arabi)
Tariq Salman (Al-Sadd)
Musab Khader (Al-Sadd)
Bassam Al-Rawi (Al-Duhail)
Muhammad Al-Nuaimi (Al-Duhail)
Youssef Ayman (Al-Duhail)
Hammam Al-Amin (Al-Gharrafa)

Midfielders

Ahmed Fathi (Al-Arabi)
Abdullah Al-Maarafi (Al-Arabi)
Asim Madabo (Al-Duhail)
Ali Asad (Al-Sadd)
Muhammad Waad (Al-Sadd)
Mahdisalim (Al-Sadd)
Mustafa Meshaal (Al-Shamal)

Forwards

Ahmed Alaa (Al-Gharafa)
Al-Moez Ali (Al-Duhail)
Muhammad Muntari (Al-Duhail)
Tamim Mansour (Al-Rayyan)
Khaled Mounir (Al-Wakra)
Youssef Abdel-Razzaq (Al-Wakra)

Head coach

Carlos Queiroz