Four years after its home FIFA World Cup failure, Qatar is not expecting any gifts in North America as it looks forward to a performance its fans can be proud of, coach Julen Lopetegui said ahead of the opener against Switzerland.
Qatar lost all three matches in 2022, scoring a solitary goal in an unprecedented low for a tournament host, but has since earned some credibility by qualifying for North America on their own.
«When we arrived here about a year ago, our goal was (qualification). Our dream was that. Inshallah we achieved that. With the help of this group. They made history,» Lopetegui told reporters on Friday.
«Now we don’t want to stop. We know the type of opponents we will face. We know we are in the World Cup, but we want to follow our dream.»
«In the same way, we think that no one gives us presents here. Now we want to be as competitive as possible, starting with the first match tomorrow.»
Asian champion Qatar is aiming for its first World Cup points from a group that also includes Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a build-up that was disrupted by the war in Iran.
The conflict meant that friendlies against Serbia and world champions Argentina in March were cancelled, with the World Cup starting after a 1-0 defeat to Ireland and a 0-0 draw against El Salvador in friendlies against more modest opponents.
There were no complaints from Lopetegui about the preparations ahead of facing a highly ranked Swiss side, the coach saying Qatar would just have to get used to it.
He said it also made no sense to focus on one player during Saturday’s opener at the home of NFL team San Francisco 49ers.
«I think Switzerland is a very, very strong team. Most of them are top players. I don’t want to talk about one, I should talk about them all,» he said.
Lopetegui is coaching a World Cup team for the first time, eight years after he was sensationally sacked as Spain manager days before the tournament in Russia.
But he had little interest in talking about his past near misses.
“I don’t think about the past, I think about the present,” he said.
“Because you are building your future.”
Qatar captain Hassan Al Haydos, who was persuaded to come out of retirement to play a second World Cup, was also reluctant to look back on the 2022 tournament but said the players had learned from it.
“Of course we tried to put this experience into practice from a technical perspective and a performance-related perspective,” he said through a translator.
“We tried to share the insights and experiences we gained.
“We can’t promise our fans anything or no results, but I can still promise that we will do our best and come out on a positive note.”
Published on June 13, 2026
