Qatar’s Akram Afif believes the reigning Asian champions can overcome a faltering start to the third phase of the continent’s World Cup preliminaries as they seek automatic qualification for the 2026 finals.

Afif was crowned player of the year by the Asian Football Confederation for the second time on Tuesday after playing a major role in his nation’s successful defence of their Asian Cup title on home soil earlier this year.

But Qatar’s attempts to qualify for the World Cup have been less straightforward than their continental title win, with Tintin Marquez’s side sitting in fourth in their group with four points from their opening four matches.

“Our situation in World Cup qualification is very hard,” said Afif, who was the leading scorer at the Asian Cup but has only netted once so far in the current round of preliminaries.

“It’s not easy, the situation in the Asian Cup is very different, you just win seven games and you win the tournament or you go out in the knockout stage. That’s it.”

World Cup preliminaries are, by contrast, a much longer endeavour.

“The qualification is eight months and if you don’t go through, you go into the playoffs. So this is something long term, like a marathon.”

Qatar have never qualified for the World Cup, securing their berth at the 2022 finals as hosts, and recent results have increased the pressure on Marquez with only the top two finishers in each of Asia’s three groups guaranteed to progress.

Iran and Uzbekistan occupy those positions in the Group A standings with the pair on 10 points, six clear of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Kyrgyzstan are a further point adrift with North Korea bottom of the group.

While the top two qualify for the finals in North America, the third- and fourth-placed finishers advance to a further round to determine Asia’s eight guaranteed representatives at the tournament. “It’s hard and the fans are not happy, of course,” Afif said. REUTERS