Ali Asadalla (No 8) of Qatar trying to dribble past Algerian players during their friendly game in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Anas Khalid

By Sports Reporter/Doha

Qatar stunned Algeria 1-0 in an international friendly yesterday to boost their morale ahead of a gruelling qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
A 32nd minute strike by Ali Asadalla was enough to see the Al Annabi through at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, the home ground of Qatar Stars League champions Lekhwiya.
Qatar won the Gulf Cup in October last year, but were badly exposed at the Asian Cup in Australia where they lost all their first round matches to crash out of the tournament early.
That came as a huge blow to the morale of the team who had hoped to challenge the best in the continent and improve their standing as they build towards the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
The Algerians, who made the last 16 of the World Cup in Brazil last year, barely got going yesterday. They appeared out of touch, and the slippery turf made them approach the game a tad gingerly.
On the contrary, Qatar showed a great deal of spark and some initial forays into the Algerian territory did test their defence.
Goalkeeper Azeddine Doukha was called into service on quite a few occasions early, and also in the second half.
Yet, with a bit of luck, Qatar could have won the match by a bigger margin. Ismail Mohamed had an excellent chance to put Qatar ahead in the 21st minute, but although the Lekhwiya midfielder beat the offside trap, he could only watch in dismay as his shot hit the post with goalkeeper Doukha well and truly beaten.
Ismail later inadvertently came in the way of a shot by Karim Boudiaf which seemed headed goalward, but Qatar didn’t have to wait much longer for the only goal of the match.
In the 32nd minute, the Algerian defence was caught napping and Asadalla enjoyed a clear 35-yard run before easily slotting past Doukha.
The second half saw the Algerians pressing hard for the equalizer, but goalkeeper Amine Claude Lecomte produced a few good saves, including one off Yassine Brahimi.
Mohamed Muntari almost made it 2-0 for Qatar, but hi fine effort from just outside the penalty area narrowly missed the target.
And later substitute Yusuf Ahmed found himself in perfect position to swell the tally, but his shot from close range was blocked by goalkeeper Doukha.
“We are in the process of planning for the World Cup qualifiers and today’s match was a step in that direction,” said Qatar coach Djamel Belmadi.
“The Algerians are a very experienced side and I am happy that we came out winners,” Belmadi added
Qatar are one of 40 teams in the second round of qualification—along with 33 other nations they received a bye to this round—anxiously waiting for April’s draw to see which group they will play in.
A convoluted qualification system will see Qatar drawn into one of eight groups of five. The group winners and four best runners-up head into the third round.
These 12 will then be placed into two groups of six, with the first two in each group heading to Russia.




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