DOHA: Striker Hassan Abdelkareem produced a timely double as hosts Qatar launched their 2016 Olympic Games dream with a hard-fought win against China on the opening day of the AFC U23 Championship.
Playing on home soil at Lekhwiya Stadium, Qatar were demoralized by an early China striker in the Liao Lisheng in the 43rd minute but Felix Sanchez’s young side hit back with three goals within 16 minutes.
A double by Hassan (66 and 72) gave Qatar the equaliser and then the lead within 6 minutes. Around 10 minutes later, Qatar’s Ahmed Alaa sealed the deal for the home side with a close-range striker in the 82nd minute.
In an earlier Group A clash, football powerhouse Iran fired two second-half goals to crush Syria 2-0 at the Al Sadd Stadium.
China clearly dominated play in the first half, missing the goal with their first serious attempt by Zhang Yuning in the 6th minute.
Qatar’s Moeez Ali got slapped by a yellow card for a needless infringement in the 14th minute as the battle heated up in the Group A clash. Six minutes later, Qatar are on the attack at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium where Ali is presented with a great scoring opportunity but his shot hits the top right of goalpost In the 28th minute, Lisheng targetted the Qatar goal from close range but he missed as an agile Qatar goalkeeper Muhannad Naim rose to the occasion with a save.
Six minutes later China also feel the brunt of the referee’s quick calling as Kim Jong-hyeok hands a yellow to Yuning. A minute before China’s only strike, Assim Madibo of Qatar also gets booked by the referee with a yellow card. China took the lead thanks a superb free-kick from Guangzhou Evergrande’s Liao Lisheng in the 43rd minute much to the disappointment for the home fans. But that was all about to change. In the 51st minute, Hassan fired a shot but it missed the target. In the 66th minute, Hassan headed home from close range as Qatar scored off an indirect corner kick.
A few minutes after the first goal, Qatar got the lead for the first time in the match, once again Hassan finding the back of the Chinese net in the 72nd minute.
Hassan completed the turnaround just seven minutes later with a stunning strike as the Al Sadd left-back, after a quick one-two with Asad, rifled a vicious strike from 25 yards into the far corner past the despairing dive of China goalkeeper Du. Substitute Alaa, who came in for Ali in the 80th minute, wasted no time to get into Chinese defense. Alaa scored Qatar’s third goal in the 82nd minute as the home team fans celebrated a great fight back by Felix’s side.
Qatar take on Iran in the next game on January 15 followed by a clash against Syria on January 18.
Earlier, Amir Motahhari scored one and set up the other as Iran kicked off their campaign with a 2-0 win over Syria at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Motahhari claimed a fine solo effort in the 64th minute before setting up the impressive Mehrdad Mohammadi for the second eight minutes later as Mohammad Khakpour’s side made the perfect start to their attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Iran have not appeared at the Olympic Games since 1976, but Khakpour’s side sent out a message of intent with an efficient performance that saw the Iranians on top for much of the 90 minutes. Ali Karimi and Farshid Esmaeili caused concern for the Syrian defence in the opening 20 minutes, with Karimi forcing Syrian goalkeeper Abdullatif Nassan into action thanks to a well-taken free kick while Esmaeili sent his close-range effort over the bar.
The teams went into the break level, but it was the Iranians who were in the ascendancy and, by the 64th minute, Khakpour’s had taken the lead.
Six minutes earlier, Mahdi Torabi should have scored when Nassan fumbled Karimi’s low cross at his feet, only for the ball to eventually go wide of the goalkeeper’s left post.
But Motahhari finally broke the deadlock when, picking the ball up inside the left side of the Syrian penalty area he skipped past two defenders and sent a low left foot shot across Nassan and into the far corner.
In the 70th minute, Iranian goalkeeper Mohammadreza Akhbari’s sharp reactions saw him push Omar Kharbin’s perfectly struck shot over the bar and, just two minutes later the result was put beyond any doubt.
Motahhari was the architect of the goal on this occasion as he stormed down the right flank before cutting the ball inside to Mohammadi, whose first touch took him away from the defence before hitting his right foot effort into the far corner.
The Peninsula
