Lopetegui called him out of retirement last year, and Hassan Al-Haydos answered, as he’s always done for Qatar. The qualification campaign was stuttering badly enough to need something beyond tactics, with the indirect qualification path all but confirmed for the Maroons. “I felt that the team needed me to be present in the locker room,” Al-Haydos said in a recent interview, which, more than anything, explained what he represents.

The Qatar captain will arrive at this World Cup among the most-capped players in the tournament. He is unlikely to start but will be counted on to lead the dressing room, with his crucial contributions to Qatar’s consecutive Asian Cup triumphs being the main references. An attacking midfielder who puts on tireless shifts, he has spent his entire career at Al Sadd and signed a contract with no end date last year. While it is safe to assume that the 35-year-old’s career is a chapter mostly written now, Al-Haydos still remains indispensable.