Peter Correira. Among the 26 elected in Qatar is a Portuguese

Pedro Correia, known in football as Ró-Ró, is one of 26 from Qatar selected for the 2022 World Cup. The Portuguese player has played for the Qatar national team since 2016 and will be captain of the World Cup host, which starts on December 20 and ends on December 18.

Born in Portugal, Pedro, son of Cape Verdeans, grew up in the troubled neighborhood of Casal de São José in Mem Martins, Sintra. Formed at Benfica, the centre-back, who also plays as a right-back, played spells at Aljustrelense, Farense and Estoril Praia before being challenged to play for Qatar in 2010. He had to undergo tests and overcame competition from nearly 30 other foreigners to earn a place in the Al Ahli team, as he told DN in 2019.

Six years later, he was naturalized and called up to the national team. At that time it was already known that the country was going to organize the 2022 World Cup and he saw the dream of playing at a World Cup getting closer, he confided to DN. Ró-Ró (nicknamed from his admiration for Brazilians Ronaldo and Romário) is 32 years old, plays for Al Sadd and has a contract until 2025.

In the national team, Pedro Correia has already played 78 games, one of the references and one of the captains of the team led by Félix Sánchez. Qatar is part of Group A of the competition, along with the Netherlands, Ecuador and Senegal.

Summoned

Goalkeepers: Saad Al Sheeb (Al Sadd), Meshaal Barsham (Al Sadd) and Yousuf Hassan (Al Gharafa)

Defenders: Pedro Miguel (Al Sadd), Mossab Khidir (Al Sadd), Bassam Al Rawi (Al Duhail), Khoukhi Boualem (Al Sadd), Abdelkarim Hassan (Al Sadd), Ismaeel Mohammad (Al Sadd), Jassim Jabir (Al Arabi ) ) and Salem Al Hajri (Al Sadd)

Midfield: Tarek Salman (Al Sadd), Homam Al Amin (Al Gharafa), Ali Asad (Al Sadd), Mohammed Waad (Al Sadd), Assim Madibo (Al Duhail), Mustafa Meshaal (Al Sadd), Karim Boudiaf (Al Duhail ) ) and Abdulaziz Hatim (Al Rayyan)

Attackers: Naif Al Hadhrami (Al Rayyan), Hassan Al Haydos (Al Sadd), Akram Afif (Al Sadd), Almuz Ali (Al Duhail), Mohammed Muntari (Al Duhail), Ahmed Alaa (Al Gharafa) and Khalid Muneer (Al Wakrah)