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Abdulkarim Hassan returns as Sanchez announces Qatar squad

Doha, Qatar: Last season's AFC best player Abdulkarim Hassan made a come back to the squad as coach Felix Sanchez named the Qatar squad for 24th Arabian Gulf Cup, which starts in Doha on Tuesday.

Al Sadd attacking left-back Hassan, one of the many stars of Qatar's Asian Cup triumph, missed a few recent World Cup qualifiers but was included in the final 23 which will strengthen Al Annabi's defence as well as attack. 

Qatar open their campaign with a match against Iraq on Tuesday.

Captain Hassan Al Haydous was hopeful that Al Annabi would return to their best in Doha.

“We have finished the Asian Cup qualifiers and are now solely focusing on the Gulf Cup,” said Al Haydous. “We have not been at our best recently. But we hope to return to our top form for the Gulf Cup. The championship is being held in Qatar, which will motivate us to raise the bar,” Al Haydous added.

Qatar squad: Saad Al Sheeb, Pedro, Salem al-Hajri, Tariq Salman, Abdulkarim Hassan, Boualem Khoukhi, Hassan Al Haydous, Akram Afif, Bassam Al Rawi, Almoez Ali, Karim Boudiaf, Ismail Hamad, Mohamed Montari, Ahmed Fathi, Mohamed Salah, Fahd Shanin, Youssef Abdel Razzaq, Musab Khader, Abdul Aziz Hatem, Fahd Younis, Mahdi Ali, Abdullah Abdul Salam, Mohamed Bakri.

Kuwait arrive

Kuwait squad arrived in Doha on Sunday for the Gulf Cup. Head coach Thamer Enad has included 28 players in the squad, with five players to be excluded from the final list after the training session at the Qatar University Stadium today.

Kuwait are in Group B alongside Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain. They open their campaign against Saudi on Wednesday.  

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