Qatari players celebrate after beating Chinese Taipei in their final Group A match of the AFC U-19 Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday.
Bogor: Qatar progressed into the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship quarter-finals yesterday as a brilliant 4-0 win over a resilient Chinese Taipei helped them finish top of a tight Group A.
Along with Qatar, hosts Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates finished tied on six points in Group A.
A flurry of second half goals ensured the nervy victory for Qatar who had gone into the game knowing that only a win would have guaranteed them a ticket through to the last eight.
In the end, Qatar assumed pole position by the narrowest of margins after scoring more goals than either second-placed Indonesia or the United Arab Emirates in the games between the trio.
The 2014 title winners will now meet the yet to be decided runners-up in Group B, with Sunday’s encounter sure to be a titanic tussle given that both a spot in the semi-finals and a berth at next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup will be up for grabs.
On what proved to be a tense night of football, Qatar came close to breaking the deadlock on multiple occasions but resolute Chinese Taipei defending forced them to wait until the 57th minute before taking the lead with substitute Khaled Mansour drilling a shot across Li and into the net.
Qatar added a second through Hashim Ali courtesy of a deft finish four minutes later. As chances became few and far between, Qatar pressed for a third and it duly came with 13 minutes remaining, Hashim Ali bagging his second of the game with a delightful curling effort that beat Li’s despairing dive.
Qatar rounded off the scoring on 86th minute when Umaru expertly converted a penalty after Khaled Mohammed had been brought down in the area by Chiu Po-Jui.
