Qatar's 1-0 home defeat against Iran on Thursday has left the hugely ambitious country's 2018 World Cup dreams in tatters. The result means Qatar, chosen as the host of football's biggest tournament in 2022, are bottom of Group A with just four points from six games. With four matches to play, Qatar are 10 points behind leaders Iran and six points adrift of South Korea who occupy the top two spots which guarantee automatic qualification to Russia in 2018.
Even their hopes of finishing third, where Uzbekistan sit with nine points, and where they would progress to a last chance play-off now seem remote.
They are even four points back from Syria, a nomadic team, without key players, who have to play their "home" matches in Malaysia due to the ongoing civil war.
"I had big expectations for today's result, really I am very sad," said a forlorn Qatar coach Jorge Fossati after watching his team lose to a Mehdi Taremi goal. The sense of disappointment was clear as fans filed from the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.
One of those was senior World Cup 2022 organiser, Nasser Al-Khater.
But as much as the international focus on Qatar centres on 2022 - from its controversial choice as host, to corruption and migrant worker abuse allegations - at home the nation was desperate to qualify on merit for the finals in Russia.
Khater's colleagues in Qatar had talked openly about the importance of qualifying for Russia.
That tournament represents the last chance for Qatar to qualify for a World Cup before automatically playing as hosts in 2022.
Qualification, still mathematically possible, would have shown doubters that Qatar is a genuine football nation.
The flipside is that now their almost certain failure to qualify means Qatar is open to several more years of inevitable sneering that their place among football's elite come 2022 was secured only by the country's incredible wealth.
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