(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar will restart their campaign to reach the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup today as they take on the Maldives in the tropical nation's capital city of Male.
For Qatar, who have never reached the World Cup finals, the road to Russia begins with a new coach - Jose Daniel Carreno.
Carreno, who came in as
the replacement for Djamel Belmadi in May, had taken his squad to England for warm-up games ahead of today's Group C clash.
Friendlies against Ireland and Scotland at the end of May and in the first week of June respectively set things in motion for Carreno's boys.
The 52-year-old Uruguayan has inside knowledge about Qatari football having coached Qatar Stars League (QSL) side Al Arabi.
A month later, on October 8, Qatar will host China for their third 2018 World Cup qualifier at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.
Maldives will also visit Doha in the same week for their return clash on October 13.
On November 17, Bhutan will welcome Qatar for their home game at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu.
The game against Bhutan in November this year will be followed by a gap of four months.
In March 2016, Qatar will welcome Hong Kong for the return game between the two sides. The game will be played on March 24 at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium.
Five days later, Qatar will visit China for their return game on March 29 at the Shanxi Stadium, Xi'an.
After missing the bus to Brazil last year, Carreno's boys have a task at hand - to help Qatar reach their first ever World Cup finals since they started featuring in qualifying matches for the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
Hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar will be hoping to excel in the next eight qualifying games over the course of nine months to reach the next phase in their Russia campaign.
The 2018 qualifying games have added importance as results will be deemed official for teams aiming to reach the 2019 Asian Cup to be held in the United Arab Emirates.
With striker Khalfan Ibrahim, forward Hassan Al Haydos and midfielder Ibrahim Magid hitting peak form in their young careers, Qatar can hope for a better show in the preliminary phase.
Meanwhile, Asian champions Australia and perennial World Cup qualifiers Japan and South Korea will be heavily expected to take three of the continent's four guaranteed places for Russia 2018, with a fifth also possible through an intercontinental play-off.
Iran joined the trio in making it to Brazil last year and will be confident of back-to-back World Cups for the first time having convinced Carlos Queiroz to stay on as head coach.
Australia will begin their campaign next Tuesday in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek, with Group B also offering trips to Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Jordan before concluding in March.
"Some people got some geography lessons last night, found out some countries they probably didn't think existed," Australia coach Ange Postecoglou joked after the draw was made in April.
Japan also begin next Tuesday with a soft start at home to Singapore with further Group E matches against Cambodia,
Syria and Afghanistan unlikely to trouble them.
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