Bahrain rally to hold Qatar 2-2

Qatar squandered two first-half goals to drop points against Group A rivals Bahrain, settling for a 2-2 draw in the opening game of the 12th Arab Games football competition at the Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.Substitute Sami al-Hussaini scored twice in the second half to deny Qatar three points after the hosts led 2-0 at half time with goals from Jarallah al-Marri and Mohamed Razark.   Qatar will return to the same venue on December 16 well aware of what is required of their match against Iraq to reach the last four, with Bahrain taking on Zico’s side on Tuesday. Bahrain, despite playing without three players Ali Khalil, Faouzi Aaish  and Hassan Jameel of the original 25-member squad, looked the better of the two in early exchanges.Abdulla Omar looked impressive on the right even as midfielders Salman Issa and Hamad al-Anezi created swift passing moves. But Qatar, missing as many as nine players from the squad due to club duty with Al Sadd at the Club World Cup in Japan, held firm at the back.The hosts grew in confidence as the match wore on and took a lead in the 17th minute. Hamid Ismail, collecting a pass from Mohamed Saeed, made a breathtaking run down the right to pick out Jarallah al-Marri on the edge of the box with a cross. And the Al Rayyan striker, making his return after an injury lay-off, put away a half volley to put the hosts 1-0 up. Bahrain showed urgency to returned to the game but Qatar maintained pressure on the visitors. In the 35th minute, the hosts doubled their lead after a defensive error from Bahrain.  Abdulla Omar misplaced his pass and the dreadful mistake gave the ball away to Razark who raced into the area and side-footed past goalkeeper.Bahrain had a chance to pull a goal back in the 42nd minute but al-Anezi’s header on a corner went just over the bar.Bahrain returned to attack and went close to scoring off a low cross from the right seconds after the restart. But Qatari custodian Burhan was alert to the danger as he punched the ball away to safety with striker Ismail Hassan charging in. Bahrain set up their camp inside the Qatari half but could not find a way across the tightly-knit Qatari defence. Taylor then made changes in his attack, replacing Issa Salman with Hamad al-Banki in the 57th minute and eight minutes later, brought on al-Hussaini in place of ineffective striker Mohammed al-Alawi. Qatar left acres space in the central of midfield and Bahrain used it to their advantage to make it 2-1 in the 72nd minute. Midfielder Mahmoud Abdulrahman released a long ball over captain Ibrahim to pick out al-Hussaini. The Muharraq striker then got the better of struggling Marconi Amaral before beating onrushing Burhan to tap the ball home.Amaral, who seemed to have pulled his hamstring during his futile chase of al-Hussaini, limped off the field and was  replaced by Khalil Ahmed.The visitors went close to getting an equaliser twice with Hamed al-Anezi denied by Burhan with a diving save in the 85th minute and al-Banki missing a chance inside the box four minutes later.Their persistence paid off in the 90th minute. Defender Abdulla Omar, making an overlapping run down the right, beat a couple of Qatari defenders to centre a low pass and al-Hussaini completed his double to put Bahrain level at 2-2.Qatar’s last-ditch effort for three points ended when Ismail went narrowly wide three minutes into injury time.The Games’ football competition continues today with Saudi Arabia playing Oman in Group B opener. Libya, 2007 runners-up, take on Sudan in the early Group C encounter at Al Gharafa, while Jordan meet neighbours Palestine in the other match.