HOUSTON, Texas.- This summer, Qatar will become the second country from the Asian Football Confederation to participate in the Concacaf Gold Cup and the defending Asian Cup champions are bringing a competitive roster as they look to polish themselves before hosting next year’s FIFA World Cup.
The only other Asian country to participate in the Gold Cup was South Korea (2000, 2002) as they prepared to host a World Cup of their own. They would go on to finish fourth at Japan/Korea 2002 in what remains the highest finish for an Asian nation -- something Qatar is ambitious to match or surpass.
One of the key players hoping to lead Qatar to a successful run in the Gold Cup is forward Akram Afif. Making his senior national team debut in 2015, Afif is now one of his national team’s more established players with 19 goals in 64 appearances.
The 24-year-old Doha native has already notched some important milestones by scoring in the finals of the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup on route to his nation’s first gold medal finish in both competitions.
Besides his goal in the Asian Cup final, Afif contributed to his nation’s path to the final with a tournament record 10 assists. He was subsequently named the 2019 AFC Player of the Year.
At the club level, Afif has helped Al Sadd SC to two league titles in 2018-19 and 2020-21. He finished as the Qatar Stars League top scorer in 2019–20 and provided the most assists in the league in 2018–19, 2019–20, seasons in which he was also named the Player of the Year.
Entering the prime years of his career, Afif will be a player to watch for Qatar at the Gold Cup, especially since they will not have it easy with Honduras, Panama and Grenada as their opponents in Group D.
