Coach Evaristo de Macedo was the first to be taken to the World Cup host country. In 1980, he left Santa Cruz (PE) and went to Doha, initially receiving US$150 in gloves and a salary of US$17, an amount that multiplied over time. Evaristo led the Qatar junior team to runner-up in the world championship in 1981, in Australia.
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On that occasion, the unknown team beat Poland (1-0), eliminated Brazil in the quarter-finals (3-2) and defeated England (2-1) in the semi-finals, until losing to West Germany in the very final by 4 to 0. Evaristo also led the local team at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
“In my time, the players were only Qataris, football was starting, we had two stadiums, a small one and a slightly bigger one. I think Qatar was very good for me, sportingly and financially too, because we had better conditions to work there. I have no complaints about anything. I had good results, I left a great friendship there and they have great affection for me”, said Macedo in an interview with the board “Seventies” from the program In the World of the Ball, on TV Brasil.
But other Brazilians were also taken to develop the local sport: Dino Sani, Procópio Cardoso, Cabralzinho, Ivo Wortmann, Sebastião Lapola, Zé Mário, Paulo Campos, Sebastião Lazaroni and Paulo Autuori. This led to teams from Qatar coming to Brazil for seasons, where they played friendlies against at least eighteen teams over the years.
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Brazilian clubs were also well received in Doha, starting with Santos. Pelé was received with pomp in February 1973. On that occasion, the Santos team beat Al-Ahli Sports Club 3-0.
Football was so incipient in Qatar that, during a long season in Rio de Janeiro in 1980, the team led by Evaristo de Macedo lost 7-0 to the average Campo Grande team and 4-0 to Madureira. And what impression did they leave here?
“Qatar players are undisciplined, discourteous and love to fight on the field. The player Magid was voted the most daring in his group. During the game, I wanted to snatch the red card from the hands of referee Paulo Roberto Chaves”, wrote chronicler Milton Salles at the time.
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Bangu
In the 1980s and 1990s, friendlies between national teams and clubs were much more common and no other team faced the Qatar national team as much as Bangu: there were two friendlies in Doha in 1985 (when Qatar was managed by Dino Sani), two friendlies in Rio in 1988 (under the command of Procópio Cardoso), two games in Doha in 1989 (again with Dino Sani) and three friendlies in Doha in 1992 (with coach Sebastião Lapola).
In addition to Bangu, Qatar took traditional teams, such as Atlético Mineiro, Internacional and Fluminense, to perform in Doha. Here, they played against Manufatora de Niterói, Petropolitano and Entrerriense.
But the era of friendlies between clubs and countries is over. The team, currently led by Spaniard Félix Sánchez, was in Brazil in 2019 to participate in the Copa América, trained at Fluminense's CT, but did not face any local team.
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The last game between Qatar and a Brazilian team took place more than 20 years ago, against Palmeiras, in 1998, and Luiz Felipe Scolari's team won 2-0.
(With Brazil Agency)
