Muscat: Hosts Qatar edged Oman 2-1 to move into the quarterfinal of the 2021 Fifa Arab Cup at the Education City Stadium in Doha on Friday.
With the loss, ‘Red Warriors’ are at the third place in group A with one point only from a draw against Iraq while the second successive victory placed Qatar as the group topper with six points.
Qatar’s Akram Afif put his team ahead in the 32nd minute when he converted a penalty into a goal while Khalid al Hajri netted the equaliser for ‘Red Warriors’ in the 74th minute. The winner for Qatar came in the dying minutes (98th minute) through an own goal by Fahmi Durbin.
The Gulf Cup clash between Oman and Qatar began with a strong move by ‘Red Warriors’ through Salah al Yahyaei who penetrated through Qatar’s defence and entered the box in the third minute.
Then, he sent a strong ball but it went above the crossbar. The responding action was quick from the hosts side as Bassam al Rawi crossed the ball to the center and continued by AbdulKarim Hassan but his ball went in right side of Oman goalkeeper Ibrahim al Mukhaini in the 8th minute.
Asian champion domination continued as Akram Afif’s attempts inside the box was very near to score the opening goal as he played golden pass to Al Moez Ali who continued through header to Al Haydos before Ibrahim interface and saved the ball in the tenth minute.
Oman’s goalkeeper saved another scoring opportunity of the hosts as Akram Afif sent a strong ball in the 28th minute. Four minutes later, the Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio decided a penalty for Qatar after Ahmed al Khamisi’s interface to Akram Afif, who converted the penalty into a first goal to lead the hosts by 1-0.
Between the half’s break, the Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic instructed the players for scoring the equalizer as the Red Warriors’ strikers movement were towards Qatar’s goalkeeper Saad al Sheeb.
Mohsin al Ghassani, who replaced Essam al Subhi in the starting line-up, got into the action after penetrating inside the box in the 64th minute but his ball did not move properly to the net.
The substitute Khalid al Hajri brought the joy for Oman’s fans as he scored the equalizer in the 74th minute as he struck the ball into the net after a perfect cross from Abdullah Fawaz.
Later, coach Félix Sánchez’s men pressed hard to return again in the match and looking for the second goal. Qatar’s strikers pressed hard in the dying minutes and Oman’s Fahmi Durbin scored an own goal which was decided later by the Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio as a winning goal for the hosts.
With the referee’s decision, the match ended in favour of Qatar 2-1 and the Oman players and support staff with disappointed with the referee’s decisions.
