Jorge Fossati has launched a scathing attack on people who question Qatari football players’ commitment to the country’s cause just because they were born elsewhere.
Several players in the national team are naturalised citizens, among them Uruguay-born striker Sebastian Soria and attacking midfielder Rodrigo Tabata who is of Japanese-Brazilian heritage.
Fossati appeared particularly upset by comments reportedly made by Iran’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz in which he criticised Qatar for having several foreign-born players in the team.
Qatar lost a controversial qualifier 2-0 to Iran on September 1 in Tehran, with both goals coming in second-half stoppage time.
Fossati was not in charge of the match because his predecessor Jose Daniel Carreno was coach of the team then, but Queiroz’s comments reported in the Arab media didn’t go down with the Uruguayan.
“All players in the team are absolutely committed to Qatar,” Fossati said yesterday. Qatar plays by FIFA rules and when it comes to football FIFA is the government. Queiroz needs to understand that Qatar is not doing anything illegal. Instead, it is Iran who are doing something illegal by not allowing ladies to watch football matches.”
 Fossati added that playing with naturalised players is not something unique in this day and age.
“Look at England, Germany, France and Switzerland. They too have players who were not born in the country they are representing. All the criticism on this count is therefore misdirected,” the Uruguayan said. Fossati added that even expatriates working in Qatar constantly face this loyalty question, but he was having none of it. “People of all nationalities working in the country love Qatar whole-heratedly,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, the Russian team have been preparing in Doha for today’s match after landing on Monday.
As 2018 hosts, the Russian team automatically qualifies for the tournament in two years’ time and will not play any competitive match until the Confederations Cup in June 2017. They are currently ranked 53rd in the world, their lowest since the FIFA rankings began in 1992. Russia’s last competitive tournament was the Euro 2016 where they performed disastrously.