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Game of the Week – Qatar vs Estonia
Qatar has much to do before hosting the World Cup in 2022. However, amid the backdrop of upset about the political nature of the decision by FIFA to send the tournament to the Middle East for the first time, the significant on-field battle facing the country can sometimes be forgotten. The pressure on Qatar from a football point of view will be to demonstrate that they are capable of being a competitive force when they are in the spotlight in a decade's time. Step one of the steep curve towards credibility comes on Wednesday against an Estonian team whose own gradual improvement is one they will look to emulate.
Following the break-up of the USSR, Estonia were cited as the weakest of the three new football nations to emerge (behind Lithuania and Latvia) and their first campaign appeared to back this up as they racked up nine defeats and a solitary point in a drawn game in Valletta against Malta. Since then however, they have gradually risen to becoming a middling European football nation and built a reputation for being a resolute side against all bar the continent's strongest teams. This culminated in a shock 1-3 success away to Serbia in Euro 2012 qualification shortly after running the Italians close in Tallinn before going down to a 1-2 defeat.
Friendly draws with Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein indicate a lack of depth, but their strongest side is good enough to give most a competitive game. Their squad is made up of a large contingent from the two Tallinn powerhouses, Flora and Levadia, as well as a number who ply their trade elsewhere. Of the three who play in Cyprus, former Roda JC striker Andreas Oper is probably the most familiar name. With 36 goals in international football, he still remains a menace to high-level European defences and his role is all the more important now that his country cannot call upon the services of Mart Poom or 157-cap legend Martin Reim. They seem to be coping well enough though – ask the Serbs, who face a crunch return match in Tallinn on March 29.
This is the sort of side that Qatar will have to beat at home to begin to earn respect as a footballing nation, and it must be said that there is little evidence of recent improvement to mirror that of their opponents. Indeed, as Asian football has grown stronger as a whole, Qatar appear to have got further away from qualification for the World Cup on merit as opposed to gradually closing in on it. Nadir Belhadj and Alain Perrin are amongst the quality personnel who have made the trip out to the oil state, following in the footsteps of Jay Jay Okocha and others. However, any sense that their presence has led to the emergence of a wave of home-grown talent would involve the clutching of more than a few straws. Only one of the current squad has attracted the attention of a club outside their homeland, although Yusef Ahmed's 46 goals in 56 appearances suggests that Qatar may have found their own answer to Ali Daei, especially given the forward is yet to celebrate his 23rd birthday.
113th in the world against 74th is not normally a game to generate huge interest, but this is the first of many significant challenges ahead of a country which has much to prove on a number of levels. If Qatar can win this game with a degree of comfort then there will be a real sense that on home turf they can at least be competitive against good opposition. This may prove to be a very tough engagement however, and an away win, while not great publicity, would be of no surprise to this writer.
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