He was not included in the final squad of 2019 AFC Asian Cup after getting injured about a month before the tournament, although, he claimed that he was capable of participating if the manager called him because his injury was minor and he could be part of the second match at least. It was really disappointing to him as he mentioned many times on Bein Sports as he was one the pundits there during the tournament. He was one of the first people who asked to sack Stange after the lost against Jordan. In an interview diffused 20th of March 2019, he denied any rows between players about the captaincy before and during Asian cup 2019, and denied also what Omar Al Somah said earlier about falling out for the captaincy armband.