Almoez double sends Qatar through to quarter-finals

AlmoezAli scored twice as Qatar qualified for the quarter-finals of the AFCU23 Championship 2018 thanks to an enthralling 2-1 win against 10-manChina in Group A at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center yesterday.Thelivewire striker struck in both halves following Yao Junsheng’s earlyeffort, to send his team through to the last eight alongsidesecond-placed Uzbekistan, while the host nation, who had captain He Chaosent off, were eliminated from the competition.In a frenetic startto proceedings, China were ahead after only four minutes. Deng Hangwendid well to outmuscle defender Sultan al-Brake deep inside the Qatarpenalty area, before finding Yao who gleefully lashed the ball home fromclose range.Qatar’s response was swift however, as Almoez forced afine sixth minute save out of China goalkeeper Zhou Yuchen, only for WeiShihao to then flash a header narrowly over the Qatari bar followingYao’s delightful free-kick shortly after.With Qatar slowly beginningto gain a degree of control, disaster was to strike China on 41 minuteswhen captain He was handed a second yellow card by referee AlirezaFaghani following a foul on talismanic midfielder Akram Afif.Fromthe resulting free-kick, Bassam al-Rawi rattled the crossbar with astinging effort, before parity was restored in the dying embers of afascinating first period courtesy of Almoez’s deft header from a sublimeAfif cross.Qatar began to make the most of their numericaladvantage after the break, as Afif, Almoez and Hisham Ali all launchedfrequent forays into the Chinese half which threatened to dampen anyhopes of an East Asian revival.China’s hopes were to be extinguished in the 77th minute when a delightful pass from Tameem al-Muhaza found Almoez who clipped the ball over Zhou and into the net to register his third strike of the tournament.Qatarduly survived the late scare of a Zhang Yuan shot which looped inchesover the bar to claim a place in the knockout phase and keep alive theirtitle aspirations. “It is a good achievement to reach the top eightin Asia. All the teams in our group were of a very high level. Weconceded the goal because we were too soft, but what happened afterwardswas that the players showed great personality,” said Qatar coach FelixSanchez.“The game changed after the red card, as China started toplay in a more direct way. But we scored the second goal which wasexactly what we were looking for. We are very happy and very proud. Wedo not have any preference who we play in our next game,” he addedChinahead coach Massimiliano Maddaloni rued his team’s missed opportunities.“From the beginning of this match until the 35th minute we played verywell, and the players put on a very good performance. We had a chance tomake it 2-0 which would have been a very good start,” he said. “Qatarare a very strong team and I am sorry that we did not make it. Duringhalf-time I tried to encourage all of my players because we were down to10 men and said that we still had a chance. I think that during thesecond half we played as a team.”Uzbekistan qualify via Oman own goalChangzhou:An own goal from Thani al-Rushaidi in the first half was enough to giveUzbekistan a second place finish in Group A, while Oman exited thetournament with no wins to their name.In the opening minutes, Oman –who made six changes to their starting line-up from their previousmatch – looked confident playing around the tight spaces, with Mandharal-Rawi and Marwan Awlad Wadi doing a great job in keeping the Uzbekbackline nervous with their quick passes.Eleven minutes in, al-Rawi surged down the middle but his shot was well blocked by defender Obbosjon Otakhonov.Uzbekistanretaliated with a close attempt seven minutes later, when AzizjonGaniev’s corner-kick found Zabikhillo Urinboev in the penalty area, butwith a difficult angle his header missed to the right.