(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Sayed Ahmed scored a stunning goal nine minutes from time to give Bahrain a victorious conclusion to their Asian Cup campaign with a 2-1 win over Qatar in their final Group C match yesterday.
With both teams having lost their first two matches at the tournament, neither could progress to the knockout stages so only pride was at stake as they battled it out in front of a crowd of 4,841 at Stadium Australia.
Sayed Dhiya Shubbar scored 10 minutes before the break to give Bahrain a 1-0 halftime lead and Ahmed's strike was a worthy winner, the midfielder curling the ball from 10 metres outside the box on the left into the top right-hand corner of the goal.
Qatar, who equalised through Hasan Al-Haydos after 68 minutes, will count themselves unlucky not to have at least forced a draw given the number of chances they created but the 2022 World Cup hosts paid the price for their profligacy.
Young Qatari striker Mohammed Muntari crashed the ball against the bar with a header after 24 minutes and also headed narrowly over with another free header in the 74th minute before shooting wide from close range four minutes later.
Shubbar had also found the woodwork for Bahrain with a backpost header before he broke the deadlock in the 35th minute.
Impressive Bahraini winger Faouzi Aaish skipped past two Qatar defenders to get to the byline before cutting the ball back for Shubbar to fire it past Qatar goalkeeper Qasem Burhan.
Boualem Khoukhi should have equalised for Qatar just before halftime but tried to flick the ball into the net with his right foot rather than hit it first time with his left, allowing goalkeeper Hamad Mohamed Aldoseri to save with his face.
The misses kept coming for Qatar after halftime with Ali Asadalla Thaimn blasting the ball at Aldoseri with the goal at his mercy after 49 minutes.
Muntari got the ball into the net three minutes later only to be called back for offside and it was Al-Haydos who got his country's second goal of the tournament when he fired a free kick under the defensive wall.
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