Almoez Ali brace sends Qatar through to quarters
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, January 16, 2018
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 PR in Group A at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center on Monday.
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 Ali 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 Ali's deft header from a sublime Afif cross.
Qatar began to make the most of their numerical advantage after the break, as Afif, Almoez Ali and Hisham Ali all launched frequent forays into the Chinese half which threatened to dampen any hopes of an East Asian revival.
Despite Al Brake being forced to spectacularly clear Wei's whipped cross from virtually under his own bar, China's hopes were to be extinguished in the 77th minute when a delightful pass from Tameem Al Muhaza found Almoez Ali 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.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)