Doha: Reigning Asian champions Qatar will take on Costa Rica in an international friendly match in Austria on November 13, Qatar Football Association announced yesterday.
The match will kick off at 8:00pm Qatar time at the Hartberg Stadium in Austria.
Earlier this month, It was revealed that the Felix Sanchez-coached squad will take on fellow Asian powerhouse Korea Republic on November 17.
The matches come within the framework of the team’s preparations for the upcoming events and within the program of preparing the national squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.
The clash against Costa Rica will be the second major friendly this year after Qatar played a match against Ghana in the Turkish city of Antalya earlier this month.
“Qatar are the current Asian champions. It is a team that has been working very well. We know that it is preparing very seriously to host the 2022 World Cup and it is a team that will be a good challenge for us,” said the Administrative Director of Costa Rican national teams, Diego Brenes, in a video posted on the country’s Football Association’s web site.
The Qatari team will make their first appearance at next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup where they will compete along with 16 of the world’s best teams from July 10 and are pitted in Group D with Honduras, Panama and Grenada for the first round.
Just before the North, Central and Caribbean region tournament, Qatar will travel to Colombia and Argentina for their second appearance at the Copa America, where they will compete against Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, from June 11.
Qatar are in 57th spot on the FIFA rankings for September and fifth in Asia.
Costa Rica are currently ranked 50th.
