MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russian national football team is facing an uneasy encounter against the team of Malta as part of their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday, Head Coach of the Russian national squad Stanislav Cherchesov said on Tuesday.

"All teams, including us, are on the start line and we are all in equal conditions," Cherchesov said speaking at a news conference earlier in the day. "It is impossible to predict what is going to happen during matches."

"This is why we focus on real tasks since our first day of the training camp and our first barrier is Malta, which is the only team on our mind today," the head coach of the Russian national side stated.

The Russian national football team opens its group stage qualifiers campaign for the berth in the global football championship in Qatar in 2022 with away match against Malta on March 24. On March 27, Russia hosts in Sochi the national team of Slovenia and will play away on March 30 against Slovakia.

Following the 2022 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw in Zurich on September 7, 2020 for Europe’s national teams, Russia was seeded in Group H with the national squads from Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta.

Qatar is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 21 and December 18 at eight stadiums in seven cities across the country, namely in Doha, Lusail, Al Wakrah, Al Khor, Al Rayyan, Umm Salal and Madinat ash Shamal.

Qatar won the right to host matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on December 2, 2010.

In March 2015, FIFA officially announced that the 22nd edition of FIFA’s flagship event would be played in November and December 2022, with the final match set for December 18, 2022 - Qatar National Day - and with the objective, in principle, of holding the tournament in 28 days.