Qatar players celebrate Khalfan Ibrahim’s 61st minute goal against Australia yesterday. PICTURES: Anas al-Samaraee
Football, as any other sport, sticks to a familiar script where the favourites tend to win and the challengers tend to come up short. Yesterday, however, was one of those days when one saw a O’Henryesque twist in the tale with Qatar pulling off a shock but well-deserved 1-0 win over Australia thanks to a 61st minute goal from Khalfan Ibrahim.
All the pre-match talk in the Aussie camp was about how they were expected to dominate teams like Qatar, especially having faced tougher opposition in the 2014 World Cup but yesterday Qatar proved that they have it in them to put up a fight and defeat teams that are stronger than them on paper.
The possession percentage showed that the home side had 41 per cent possession as compared to 59 per cent for the visitors but the Aussies, despite having a couple of clear chances didn’t prove to be incisive in the final one-third of the pitch - an issue that has been raked up after they failed to find the back of the net during the recent friendly against UAE.
Neither team had too many shots on target, with both teams registering just two each by the end of the match, and it seemed more like a chess game where the contestants were looking to pounce on the mistakes of the other.
It was a measured approach from both the teams right from the start and though the Aussie players had, before the match, spoken about playing the game at their own tempo to disturb the rhythm of the home side, there was no such sign of it on the pitch.
The first chance of the match fell to Qatar and that too in the 17th minute when Australia conceded a corner and Hassan al-Haydos, who took it, sent in a perfect cross into the middle but it missed everyone and went out.
In the 22nd minute the visitors could have taken the lean through Tommy Oar who found himself with the ball inside the box and took the shot only for Qatar’s goalkeeper Qaseem Burhan to make himself as wide as possible and block the shot.
The very next minute, Qatar came close through Abdulaziz Hatem’s effort from the edge of the box which needed the Aussie goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak to save at full stretch.
This was a good period for the home side which saw them create a few chances. They had three corner kicks to boast of and even a great counter-attacking run by Ibrahim, which saw him pass to Sebastian Soria inside the box but the Qatar striker had run too wide and couldn’t take the shot and the attack, just like the corners came to nothing.
That brought an end to the first half. In the second half, Qatar coach Djamel Belmadi brought on midfielders Luiz Martin and Majed Mohamed to shake things up and the duo brought with them not just fresh legs but also a sense of solidity in the centre of the field and Qatar started to look livelier.
The winning goal in the 61st minute started with al-Haydos setting off on a solo run on the right flank and getting as far as the box only for the ball to be cleared off his feet. The clearance landed only as far as Ibrahim who passed to Soria. Soria pushed it to al-Haydos, who cleverly crossed it into the path of the diminutive striker, who didn’t make any mistake and put it past the Aussie keeper.
The Aussies weren’t expecting that and their leaky defence, which had managed to keep a clean sheet for the first time in 13 matches during the friendly against UAE, had conceded a goal again.
The visitors tried to up the tempo of the game after conceding the goal but it was the home side that grew in confidence.
In the 68th minute, Aussie striker Tim Cahill had a great chance when he got the ball inside the box. He turned and fired but Qatar keeper Burhan was again there to block the shot. Australia’s closest chance was in the 85th minute when Mathew Leckie got a cross inside the box, just six yards out but scuffed his shot.
Qatar can walk away from the match with their heads held high for having upset the superior Aussies and also feeling confident about going into next month’s Gulf Cup of Nations on a high. Meanwhile, the Socceroos will have to go back to drawing board to find out how they can find the back of the net.
BELOW:
Teammates congratulate Qatar’s Khalfan Ibrahim for his goal against Australia yesterday.