DOHA: The Qatari football team began its campaign to defend its title as Asian Cup champions, after beating its Lebanese counterpart by three unanswered goals at the Lusail Stadium, in the opening match of the 18th edition of the continental championship, on Friday.
The Qatari team won its first three points in the first group, which includes China and Tajikistan, who will meet on Saturday.
The goals were scored by Akram Afif in the 45th and 90+6 minutes to be named the best player in the match, and Al-Moez Ali in the 56th minute.
The Qatari team, armed with great public support, imposed a clear advantage from the start of the match, through control, possession and successive access to the goal of the Lebanese team, which found itself forced to retreat to the back positions and be content with defense at the beginning of the match.
The Qatari team knew its offensive effectiveness after less than seven minutes, when Akram Afif passed a ball to Almoez Ali, who penetrated and passed the defender and put the ball in the far corner to score a goal, but an intervention from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology canceled the goal due to offside.
The Qatari team continued its advantage, and Youssef Abdel Razzaq almost scored with a powerful shot from inside the penalty area, but his ball passed the post in the 13th minute, while goalkeeper Mustafa Matar controlled Mahdi Ali’s header from a corner kick in the 19th minute.
The Lebanese national team's first offensive appearance was in the 22nd minute, when captain Hassan Maatouq shot a strong ball that was blocked by Qatari national team goalkeeper Mishal Barshim, before Maatouq returned and passed the ball towards Hussein Zein, who shot it powerfully over the crossbar in the 25th minute.
The Qatari team's response to the Lebanese team's two attempts was strong, when Youssef Abdel Razzaq sent a cross ball that Akram Afif headed around, but it touched the crossbar and continued its way outside in the 31st minute, before the Qatari team demanded a penalty kick following Abdel Aziz Hatem's shot, which touched the hand of defender Robert Melki in the 37th minute, but the referee had a different opinion.
In the last minute of the first half, the Qatari team found its way to the net when Youssef Abdel Razzaq passed a ball towards Al-Moez Ali, who in turn prepared it for Akram Afif, who fired it powerfully into the net, scoring the goal to advance the Qatari team.
The Lebanese team tried to react to the delay in stoppage time, but to no avail, and the first half ended with a deserved lead for the Qatari team with an unanswered goal.
At the beginning of the second half, the Qatari team repeated the same strong start with which it started the match, showing a great desire to secure its lead with a second goal, so Akram Afif tried with a powerful shot that passed near the post in the 49th minute.
As the Lebanese team tried to adjust the result, the Qatari team found the spaces that allowed it to score a second goal after a wonderful tactical statement that ended with a cross from Mohamed Waad, which Al-Moez Ali headed into the net, securing Al-Annabi’s lead in the 56th minute.
The Spanish coach Marques Lopez, the coach of the Qatari national team, made some changes to the formation, including Mustafa Tariq and Ismail Muhammad, and the performance became more balanced, without abandoning the offensive initiatives that took the form of transformations that kept the danger in the Lebanese national team’s goal.
Lopez continued the adjustments, including Hammam Al-Amin as a replacement for Mohamed Waad, before trying to activate the offensive side by including Ahmed Alaa as a replacement for Al-Moez Ali.
In stoppage time, Akram Afif scored his second and third personal goal for the Qatari team, after a fine individual effort, bypassing more than one defender, facing the goalkeeper and putting the ball into the goal in the 90th + 6th minute, securing the deserved victory for the Qatari team, and confirming the success of the start of the campaign to defend the continental title, which the team won in the last edition in 2019 in the Emirates.
