Almoez Ali scored a hat-trick as Qatar beat Cambodia 3-0 in a friendly at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium yesterday. The match was part of Al Annabi’s preparations for the AFC Asian Cup, which Qatar will host from January 12. This was Qatar’s first friendly under new head coach Marquez Lopez. Now the team will wrap their Asian Cup preparations by meeting Jordan on January 5.
The hosts had trouble getting past a resilient Cambodia side until the 85th minute, before Almoez blitz gave Qatar the win. Lopez opted to start with firepower against Cambodia as both Akram Afif and Almoez Ali were included in the playing XI. However Hassan al-Haydos was on the bench. The other players from the starting XI were: Saad al-Sheeb (captain), Pedro Miguel, Boualem Khoukhi, Lucas Mendes, Homam Ahmed, Ahmed Fathy, Abdelaziz Hatem, Mostafa Tarek, Khalid Muneer. Qatar are the defending champions at the AFC Asian Cup and will begin their campaign on January 12 against Lebanon in Group A which also includes China and Tajikistan.
