The spotlight will be on Qatar as it hosts the FIFA Arab Cup on December 1st.
The tournament features the top 16 national teams from the Middle East and Northern Africa and will act as a test run for the World Cup.
It replaces the traditional World Cup warm-up event, the FIFA Confederations Cup, with matches taking place at six of the seven stadiums which will host World Cup matches in 2022.
The tournament will consist of a group stage and knockout rounds, with 16 teams split into four groups of four where the top two from each will then progress to the quarter-finals.
African powerhouse Egypt will also take part as well as Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.
Matchday one kicks off with a clash between Tunisia and Mauritania on December 1, before the group stage wraps up on Wednesday, December 8.
The knockout stage of the FIFA Arab cup is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, December 11 (AEDT) with four quarter-final matches.
The semi-final takes place on Thursday, December 16.
The tournament wraps up on Sunday, December 19.
There will be no players from European clubs, but some stars from the African continent will be present, such as Algeria’s Baghdad Bounedjah, Youcef Belaili and Yacine Brahimi, Egyptian Stars, Afsha, Zizo,and Africa’s top Keeper ElShenawy.
Egypt will rely on the backbone of African club champions Al Ahly & El Zamalek while Morocco can count on the best player of the last CHAN, Sofiane Rahimi.
The Pharaohs were drawn in Group D of the FIFA Arab Cup alongside Algeria and the winners of the games between Libya and Sudan, and Lebanon and Djibouti.
In its opening game, Egypt will play against Lebanon on 1 December.
Queiroz didn’t call any of the foreign-based players in the Arab Cup squad, with the tournament falling outside of the normal international calendar.
“Our target from the FIFA Arab Cup is to prepare our players for the World Cup qualifiers and the Africa Cup of Nations. This doesn’t mean that we won’t compete for the Arab Cup title, but our main target is reaching the World Cup finals,” the 68-year old Queiroz told a press conference on Saturday ahead of traveling to Doha.
Under the guidance of Queiroz, Egypt recently secured a place at the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers which will be played next March in the home and away form against another group leader.
“We will be choosing the Africa Cup of Nations’ squad from 40 players. Also we are settled on the basic elements for the World Cup final qualifying round games and the team’s door is open to any good player who proves himself in the coming period without any conditions,” the Egypt coach explained.
“We should look to the future and we must call young players. The World Cup may be held every two years and so we should build a new generation that could compete in all competitions.
“We are monitoring all the foreign-based players and sure we will play friendly games ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations,” he added.
Egypt’s final 23-man squad
Goalkeepers: Mohamed El-Shennawy (Ahly), Mahmoud Gad (Enppi), Mohamed Sobhy (Pharco FC)
Defenders: Ahmed Fatouh (Zamalek), Mohamed Abdel-Moneim (Future FC), Ahmed Yassin (NBE club), Mahmoud “El-Wensh” Hamdi (Zamalek), Ayman Ashraf (Ahly), Akram Tawfik (Ahly), Marwan Dawoud (Enppi)
Midfielders: Hamdy Fathi (Ahly), Amr El-Sulaya (Ahly), Mohanad Lasheen (Talae El-Geish), Emam Ashour (Zamalek), Mohamed Magdi “Afsha” (Ahly), Mostafa Fathi (Zamalek), Ahmed Sayed Zizo (Zamalek), Ahmed Refaat (Masry), Omar Kamal (Future FC)
Strikers: Mohamed Sherif (Ahly), Marwan Hamdy (Smouha), Osama Faisal (NBE club), Hussein Faisal (Smouha)
