Action from Qatar’s match with Laos at Katara yesterday. PICTURES: Jayaram

By Sports Reporter/Doha

The 6-5 win for Laos over Qatar was a tale of two halves.
The first half of the match, the opening frame and some of the second period saw the hosts lose composure and go down by a score of 3-1, but a spark helped rally them to take the lead late in the middle period, but that would prove to be inadequate, as the guests rebounded again and held on for the three points.
The win puts Laos in a good place in their group, Group A, and another win will be needed against Oman today, if they hope to take further advantage of this victory.
Qatar were fiercely competitive and could have won this match had the ball bounced a little more in their favour. The Qatari will next face Bahrain today, looking for their first points.
Laos had never participated in a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – AFC Qualifier, but based on their approach and look in the opening minutes, you could not tell.
The Laotians scored first and were primed and ready to score more.
The next goal did not come from the visitors; it came from the hosts on a perfect distribution pass from the Qatar goalie then a heading pass to Al-Sharqi who slotted home the ball with his head, putting the score at 1-1 midway through the frame.
The guests made sure they took the home crowd out of the action and Laos scored the next goal, restoring their one goal lead. Early in the second period, the teams were playing to a stalemate as both defences and keepers were at the top of their games.
The Laotians were the first to break the deadlock, scoring their third on the day and pushing their lead to two goals, at 3-1, going into the heart of the match. The scrappiness of the match continued and the Qatari scored again to get back to within one goal at 3-2. The comeback continued and Qatar turned into a different team, scoring left and right and the Maroon turned their 3-1 deficit early in the frame into a 5-3 advantage going into the final period.
The match was far from over and Laos found their composure and early form once again and scored two pretty goals to tie the score at 5, midway through the frame. Qatar was on cruise control and then were awoken by the never-say-never attitude of Laos. The hosts turned up the intensity but were unable to get their sixth goal as the game went into the final minutes.
For all the work Laos had done to get back into the game, they could not find the back of the net again until N. Chiu scored his third of the day, on a play where Qatar could not clear the ball in front of their net,  to put Laos back up by one goal at 6-5. Neither team wanted to make a mistake, specifically make the mistake that would gift their opponent the game.
Neither side made that error and that was alright by Laos as they held on to win 6-5.

Yesterday’s results
UAE 7-5 Iraq (Group C)
Oman 3-2 Bahrain (Group A)
China 5(3)-5(2) (pso) Vietnam (Group B)
Japan 5-3 Kuwait (Group B)
Qatar 5-6 Laos (Group A)

Today’s matches
12:30 – Uzbekistan vs. UAE (Group C)
15:00 – Laos vs. Oman (Group A)
16:15 – Kuwait vs. China (Group B)
17:30 – Vietnam vs. Japan (Group B)
18:45 – Bahrain vs. Qatar (Group A)
20:00 – Thailand vs. Lebanon (Group D)





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