Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah al Hamdan scored the all-important goal to lead his team to the final of the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup as they edged hosts Qatar 1-0 in the semifinal late on Thursday. At the Al Janoub Stadium, venue of Fifa World Cup 2022, a professional Saudi Arabia set up a title-clash against Bahrain on Sunday.
Al Moez Ali, Akram Afif and Hassan al Haydoos registered a strong start for the hosts as they were seeking for the opening goal. Qatar’s strikers looked to penetrate to the box but Saudi’s defence stood like a rock to foil the attempts.
Saudi’s first real attempt was from Abdullah AbdulRahman in the 16th minute as he tested Qatar goalkeeper Saad al Dawsari but Saad averted the danger with a corner.
Salman al Faraj and Yasser al Dawsari’s absence in the Saudi team due to the injury affected their performance in the attacking zone.
AbdulKarim Hassan hit a strong ball from free kick but it went over the bar in the 20th minute. Saudi’s Abdullah al Hamdan put his team ahead as he scored the first goal of the game with a header after a brilliant cross from Sultan al Ghannam in the 28th minute.
After the opening goal, Qatar intensified their attacks. Al Moez Ali fell down in the box and was unable to utilise a great cross from Pedro Miguel in the 29th minute. Two minutes later, Pedro came back again and tried to hit a strong ball from outside the box but it went away from the goal in the 31st minute.
Pedro martialled Qatar attacks through the right flank. Abdulaziz Hatim was very close to score the equaliser as he received a great pass from Al Moez Ali but Hatim’s shot was saved by Saudi goalkeeper Fawaz al Qarni in the 42nd minute. The Kuwaiti referee Ahmed al Alali ended the first half with Saudi leading 1-0 against Qatar.
The referee showed yellow card to the best Asian player for this year Akram Afif for protesting against a decision in the beginning of the second half. Qatar pressed hard to Saudi’s defence in search for the equaliser.
Boualem Khoukhi came close after a perfect ball from Abdulaziz Hatim in the 62nd minute but Fawaz al Qarni was alert to save the attempt.
Saudi coach Herve Renard substituted Hatan Sultan and was replaced by Nawaf al Abid in the 64th minute. The visitors were depending on their strong defence side to keep their lead in the game. Coach Sanchez replaced Ismail Mohammed with Pedro Miguel in the 74th minute.
More than 42,000 spectators attended the match to cheer both teams. In the last ten minutes of the game, the hosts intensified pressure while Saudi looked for counter-attacks.
Akram Afif missed a golden opportunity to score as his header went above the bar in the 86th minute. Qatar did everything to score but the defence line which included Mohammed Abdu, Abdullah Saad and goalkeeper Fawaz al Qarni foiled all the attempts. The extra five minutes of injury time was not enough for Qatar to change the result and Saudi managed to win the game and secure a spot in the final.
Saudi scorer Abdullah al Hamdan won the man of the match award.
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