For Qatar national coach Félix Sánchez, his future is still uncertain. The host country lost against the Orange for the third time in a row. Nevertheless, the 46-year-old Spaniard does not want to speak of a failed World Cup after the inglorious elimination .
As national coach of Qatar, Sánchez worked for years with this generation of players towards this World Cup. The numbers at the end of the group stage are painful: zero points, one goal scored and seven goals conceded. According to Sánchez, one should not only look at the result. “We tried to be competitive at the highest level. That was the goal and we succeeded at times. This was a scenario that was possible. We played well against Senegal and the Netherlands and we didn’t reach our level in the first game against Ecuador. That is the conclusion,” he says at El Mundo Deportivo .
Sánchez has been with the Qatar Football Association since 2013. Through the position of trainer of the Under-19, he grew to the role of national coach. Officially, he took charge of the national team in July 2017. Does his period as national coach also end with the elimination? Sánchez: “I don’t know anything about my future yet. I didn’t look further than this game against the Netherlands. The most important thing is that there is a plan around the national team. The nationwide project does not depend on me or anyone else. The union will determine what the next steps will be.”
Sánchez pushed the Dutch national team forward to the press as one of the biggest contenders for a World Cup win. “We played against an excellent team, which is also one of the favourites. We struggled, but were able to keep up with them for long periods. I want to thank the fans for their support,” the Spaniard concluded.
