Qatar’s forward Akram Hassan Afif (left) prepares to shoot at the goal as Iraq’s goalkeeper Mohammed Hameed Farhan prepares to block during their Tri-nation International Friendly Tournament match at Basra Sports City Stadium yesterday.
Doha/Basra: Abdelaziz Hatem and Akram Afif scored twice in the second half as Qatar rallied for a fighting two-all draw against Syria at Basra Sports City Stadium.
Fresh from an exciting 3-2 win against hosts Iraq on Wednesday, Qatar yesterday took on the strong Syrians looking for a revenge after their loss in the Asian Qualifying round in August last year.
Syria opened the scoring in the 48th minute when Omar Al Soma found the net after a Qatari defending blunder.
Qatar came back strongly when Hatem produced a left-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner in the 59th minute.
In the 72nd minute, Al Annabi’s star of the opening match of the tournament, Afif once again came to the rescue when he shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.
Afif received a pass from Abdelkarim Hassan and made no mistake in beating the Syrian goalkeeper Ibrahim Alma to give Qatar a 2-1 lead.
However, the joy lasted just two minutes as the Syrians struck again through Zahir Al Medani who was assisted by Fahd Youssef and beat the Qatari goalkeeper to make it two-all.
Al Medani’s right footed shot carried the ball to the centre of the goal.
“It was a great match. It was a fighting performance from our side. We showed patience and attacked well,” Qatar’s Hatem said after the match.
“The players never gave up and we scored two goals in the second half. We even took the lead and could have won today. We played a great first match also. These performances give us confidence,” he added.
Hatem, 27, dismissed the constant arguments among the players during the feisty battle.
“It happens. It was all good fun,” Hatem said.
Both teams continued to hunt for opportunities to score throughout the first half, but neither side was successful. Several chances were missed while Qatar’s star forward Almoez Ali came close to score twice in the first half but failed on both occasions.
There were some tense moments later in the second half when Alaa Al Shbli of Syria was shown the yellow card for a bad foul following a collision with a Qatari player. There were some arguments followed before a yellow card was awarded to Al Shbli.
Both teams were in search of a winner thereafter but none prevailed.
In the next match of the tournament, hosts Iraq meet Syria on Tuesday. Qatar already lead the standings with one win which they recorded against Iraq before yesterday’s stalemate.
