On Tuesday, the Education City Stadium will play host to a friendly meeting between Qatar and Slovenia.
The home side enter the contest in confident mood after winning 2-1 against Bulgaria in their most recent fixture, while Slovenia drew 1-1 with Croatia in dramatic circumstances in their last outing.
Match preview
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The countdown is on for Qatar, who are eagerly awaiting the 2022 World Cup, when all eyes will turn towards their country for the biggest tournament in football.
Not only will they be hosting the tournament, but it will also be the first time that Qatar have appeared at a World Cup, so Felix Sanchez is under pressure to get preparations right.
With that in mind, the national team boss would have been pleased with his side's first outing in 2022 as they edged out Bulgaria in a cagey contest.
Akram Afif gave the World Cup hosts the lead in the 25th minute, with the forward keeping his composure from the penalty spot, before the visitors equalised 15 minutes after the restart through Kiril Despodov.
The hosts responded well though, as Boualem Khoukhi grabbed the winner to ensure that his nation got off to a positive start in what promises to be a memorable year for Qatar.
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Unfortunately for Slovenia, they will not be present at the World Cup in November after they finished fourth in their qualifying group.
A tally of 14 points from their 10 qualifying encounters ensured that Matjaz Kek's side finished behind Croatia, Russia and Slovakia in a fiercely-contested group.
They did, however, begin 2022 with a positive result as they held Croatia to a 1-1 draw in the third meeting between the two nations in just over a year.
The friendly looked to be heading towards a Croatia victory after Andrej Kramaric had found the net in the first half, however, in the first minute of stoppage time, Jaka Bijol came up trumps to deny Croatia the win.
Although they will not be participating at the World Cup, Slovenia will be wanting to pick up another positive result as they prepare for the latest edition of the UEFA Nations League, which begins in June.
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Team News
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Saad Al Sheeb missed out against Bulgaria, but the Al-Sadd goalkeeper is expected to replace Meshaal Barsham between the posts on Tuesday.
There is also expected to be a change in the backline, with Abdelkarim Hassan set to come into the starting XI to line up alongside Ro-Ro and Khoukhi in a back three.
Sanchez is set to opt for the front two that started against Bulgaria, with Almoez Ali and Afif charged with offering Qatar's goal threat.
As for the visitors, Kek could make a few alterations to the side that played out a 1-1 draw with Croatia, and one of those could come in goal, with Vid Belec set to be given playing time, although there could be a temptation to give Ziga Frelih his international debut.
Miha Mevlja and Jure Balkovec could both feature in a back three as Kek looks to give most of his squad minutes in the current international break.
There are also expected to be changes in midfield and in the forward line, with Jon Gorenc Stankovic, Benjamin Verbic and Benjamin Sesko all set to come into the side after featuring as second-half substitutes against Croatia.
Qatar possible starting lineup:
Al Sheeb; Ro-Ro, Hassan, Khoukhi; Mohammad, Boudiaf, Assadalla, Al Bayati, Ahmed; Almoez, Afif
Slovenia possible starting lineup:
Belec; Mevlja, Balkovec, Brekalo; Karnicnik, Gorenc Stankovic, Kurtic, Sikosek; Verbic, Lovric, Sesko
We say: Qatar 1-2 Slovenia
With Slovenia ranked just seven places above Bulgaria in the FIFA World rankings, we think that Qatar will cause their visitors problems, but with that little extra quality in their squad, we expect Slovenia to win out.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Slovenia win with a probability of 42.35%. A win for Qatar had a probability of 33.54% and a draw had a probability of 24.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Slovenia win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.89%) and 2-0 (6.34%). The likeliest Qatar win was 1-2 (7.81%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.09%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 4.9% likelihood.
