(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Almoez
Ali scored twice as Qatar qualified for the quarter-finals of the AFC
U23 Championship 2018 thanks to an enthralling 2-1 win against 10-man
China in Group A at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center yesterday.
The
livewire striker struck in both halves following Yao Junsheng's early
effort, to send his team through to the last eight alongside
second-placed Uzbekistan, while the host nation, who had captain He Chao
sent off, were eliminated from the competition.
In a frenetic start
to proceedings, China were ahead after only four minutes. Deng Hangwen
did well to outmuscle defender Sultan al-Brake deep inside the Qatar
penalty area, before finding Yao who gleefully lashed the ball home from
close range.
Qatar's response was swift however, as Almoez forced a
fine sixth minute save out of China goalkeeper Zhou Yuchen, only for Wei
Shihao to then flash a header narrowly over the Qatari bar following
Yao's delightful free-kick shortly after.
With Qatar slowly beginning
to gain a degree of control, disaster was to strike China on 41 minutes
when captain He was handed a second yellow card by referee Alireza
Faghani following a foul on talismanic midfielder Akram Afif.
From
the resulting free-kick, Bassam al-Rawi rattled the crossbar with a
stinging effort, before parity was restored in the dying embers of a
fascinating first period courtesy of Almoez's deft header from a sublime
Afif cross.
Qatar began to make the most of their numerical
advantage after the break, as Afif, Almoez and Hisham Ali all launched
frequent forays into the Chinese half which threatened to dampen any
hopes of an East Asian revival.
China's hopes were to be extinguished in the 77th minute when a delightful pass from Tameem
al-Muhaza found Almoez who clipped the ball over Zhou and into the net to register his third strike of the tournament.
Qatar
duly survived the late scare of a Zhang Yuan shot which looped inches
over the bar to claim a place in the knockout phase and keep alive their
title aspirations.
'It is a good achievement to reach the top eight
in Asia. All the teams in our group were of a very high level. We
conceded the goal because we were too soft, but what happened afterwards
was that the players showed great personality, said Qatar coach Felix
Sanchez.
'The game changed after the red card, as China started to
play in a more direct way. But we scored the second goal which was
exactly what we were looking for. We are very happy and very proud. We
do not have any preference who we play in our next game, he added
China
head coach Massimiliano Maddaloni rued his team's missed opportunities.
'From the beginning of this match until the 35th minute we played very
well, and the players put on a very good performance. We had a chance to
make it 2-0 which would have been a very good start, he said. 'Qatar
are a very strong team and I am sorry that we did not make it. During
half-time I tried to encourage all of my players because we were down to
10 men and said that we still had a chance. I think that during the
second half we played as a team.
Uzbekistan qualify
via Oman own goal
Changzhou:
An own goal from Thani al-Rushaidi in the first half was enough to give
Uzbekistan a second place finish in Group A, while Oman exited the
tournament with no wins to their name.
In the opening minutes, Oman
who made six changes to their starting line-up from their previous
match looked confident playing around the tight spaces, with Mandhar
al-Rawi and Marwan Awlad Wadi doing a great job in keeping the Uzbek
backline nervous with their quick passes.
Eleven minutes in, al-Rawi surged down the middle but his shot was well blocked by defender Obbosjon Otakhonov.
Uzbekistan
retaliated with a close attempt seven minutes later, when Azizjon
Ganiev's corner-kick found Zabikhillo Urinboev in the penalty area, but
with a difficult angle his header missed to the right.
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