Villarreal’s forgotten loanee scores in friendly victory

Drum roll, please. 96th-rated Qatar defeated 8th-ranked Switzerland in a friendly today (played in Lugano), courtesy of a late goal by Akram Afif, who is currently on loan from Villarreal to Al Sadd (Qatar).

Afif has also scored in Qatar’s friendly victories against Palestine and Ecuador, and has 11 goals in 10 games for Al Sadd.

Since signing with Villarreal Akram has played a bit in preseason friendlies, but was loaned to Sporting Gijon (where he made little impact) and Belgium’s AS Eupen, where we signed him from to start with. That didn’t do a lot either.

He still has another year on his Villarreal contract after this one, and his loan to Al Sadd ends June 30, so it remains to be seen if he will get a chance to play for Villarreal in next summer’s friendlies, or if he’ll simply be transferred on.