Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Qatar maintained their 100% record in Group B of the FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint-qualifiers on Tuesday with a 4-0 home win over the Maldives that saw the the reigning Gulf champions remain five points clear of second-placed Hong Kong.
Qatar dominated the first-half in terms of possession and opportunities and went into the interval with a deserved 1-0 lead thanks a well-worked team move that was capped by Boualem Khoukhi’s 28th minute opener at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.
The pattern of a dominant Qatar side frustrated by a compact defence, well-drilled by New Zealand’s 2010 FIFA World Cup-qualifying coach Ricki Herbert, continued in the second-half with the home side having a number of opportunities to add to their tally.
Qatar eventually made it 2-0 when Mohamed Kasola connected with a 69th minute corner and then, just 60 seconds after the Al Sadd defender had side-footed home his second goal of the qualifiers, Al Arabi star Khoukhi scored his second of the match.
Qatar would add one more to the 23 goals that they had amassed during the qualifiers thus far, with Mohamed Musa scoring the fourth of the match two minutes into second-half stoppage time as Al Annabi remained firmly in control at the top of the Group B standings.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
Next Matches:
12/11/15 Maldives v Hong Kong
17/11/15 Bhutan v Qatar