Striker Hasan Al Haydos was the star as Qatar handed South Korea a shock 3-2 defeat in their group A World Cup 2018 Asia qualifying match at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, yesterday.
Entering the match as underdogs but backed well by almost a packed crowd at the venue, the Al Anabi – ranked 88th in the world – never let their higher ranked opponents dominate the game, to secure full points.
Al Haydos scored one goal in each session while Akram Afif was the other scorer as Qatar downed the World No.43, much to the jubilation of home crowd.
Apart from the two scorers, Qatari goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb also played key role in the memorable victory with remarkable saves in crunch situations.
The Al Sadd star Al Haydos gave Qatar a lead with a stunning goal in the 25th minute when the talismanic No. 10 spotted a free kick up around 5 yards outside the Korean penalty area and curled a brilliant effort into Kwoun Suntae’s bottom left-hand corner.
The visitors looked to try and hit back immediately with Hwang Heechan managing to take ball to the Qatari penalty area, but dragged his shot well wide.
The hosts went close to doubling their advantage with Abdelkarim Hassan bursting down the left in the 41st minute, and was about to pull the trigger before a last ditch challenge sees him shank his shot somewhat.
Al Sheeb denied South Korea the equaliser with a great save in the next minute. Lee Keunho burst clear of the Qatari defence and rifled a shot at goal with his left foot but Sheeb downed smartly to his left to turn the ball behind for a corner, which was cleared away.
Qatar entered the second half with an aggressive strategy and succeeded in doubling their lead with Akram Afif scoring in the 51st minute. The Al Anabi star picked the ball up just outside the Korean penalty area, plays a swift one-two with Al Haydos and rifled a shot past Kwoun Suntae.
Ten minutes later, the South Koreans seeking to avoid to the shock defeat found their first goal when KI Sungyueng scored to reduced the lead to 2-1, soon after Qatar coach Jorge Fossati sent Musaab Khidir to replace AbdelKarim Hassan.
Hwang Heechan levelled the score for South Korea in the 70th minute.
But the hosts were in no mood to drop points and restored their lead with Al Haydos completing his brace, five minutes later to stamp the win. Captain Rodrigo Tabata played a through ball to the Al Sadd striker who made no mistake.