Qatar are sensing a golden opportunity when they take on co-hosts Canada in their World Cup Group B clash in Vancouver on Thursday as they look to build on a promising start to the finals.
Four years ago, the 2022 hosts had a tournament to forget when they lost all three group games at home. They looked like going down the same route this time as well when they fell behind to Switzerland in their opening match in California.
But captain Boualem Khoukhi led an inspired performance in the closing stages to clinch a 1-1 draw as the Arab nation took a point to keep their hopes of progressing to the next stage alive.
Next up are co-hosts Canada who also opened their campaign with a draw, held 1-1 by Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto.
Midfielder Karim Boudiaf said the Qatari team understands the importance of the Canada game as a good performance here could mean one foot through the door to knockout football.
“We are preparing very well for the Canada match,” Boudiaf told Qatari publication Al Raya. “We fully understand the importance of this match for us and know it will be an important stage in our tournament journey.
“We know very well that the match will not be easy at all. The Canada team has quality players and will be playing on their home soil and in front of their fans, which gives them extra motivation. But we also have great ambition and determination to deliver our best and achieve a positive result.
“We will enter the match with high focus and high morale after the result we achieved in the first round. The players have a great desire to continue working with the same discipline.”
Julen Lopetegui's team, the two-time Asian Cup winners, can realistically hope for all three points, although Canada will be thinking exactly the same thing.
“We can't forget that we have already made history simply by being here. It doesn't mean we're under any more pressure now. Nothing has changed really. We need to recover well and be ready with a solid game plan against Canada,” coach Lopetegui said.
Although the fitness of captain and left back Alphonso Davies remains a concern – owing to a hamstring problem – Canada will fancy their chances at the BC Place Stadium on Thursday (Friday 2am).
However, the spotlight has shifted to Canada’s all-time leading scorer Jonathan David, who has not scored a goal from open play for a year in national team colours.
In fact, concerns over David’s output have grown ever since he moved from Lille to Italian giants Juventus in 2025. Against Bosnia, a number of missed chances and poor touches forced manager Jesse Marsch to take him off.
Still, defender Joel Waterman said the hosts have an opportunity to build momentum against Qatar.
“The group is wide open,” Waterman said. “We want to top the group. The focus has never changed for us. It's a big game on Thursday to beat Qatar and then we've got to try to beat Switzerland as well. We're going to try to pick up the six points and go on to the next round.”
