DOHA: Twice Asian Cup champions Qatar strutted their stuff in style at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Thursday as the hosts secured their first win of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC Asian Qualifiers campaign in Group A defeating Kyrgyzstan 3-1.
Almoez Ali put Al Annabi in front in the 39th minute before an own goal from Tamirlan Kozubaev 18 minutes into the second half put the back-to-back Asian champions in control of the tie.
And while Alimardon Shukurov pulled one back with 14 minutes remaining, Ibrahim Al Hassan restored his side’s two goal cushion five minutes later to seal the win for Qatar, who had lost their opener to the United Arab Emirates and drawn with North Korea.
Kyrgyzstan are still looking for their first point of the third phase of the preliminaries after earlier losses to Iran and Uzbekistan and Maksim Lisitsyn’s side are bottom of the Group A standings.
Uzbekistan retained their top spot on goal difference after a goalless draw against Iran – second in the group. Both the teams have secured seven appoints apiece from three matches.
Meanwhile, next Tuesday’s match between Qatar and Iran has been moved to a neutral venue in the UAE, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced on Thursday.
Iran were initially scheduled to host their home tie in Mashhad."The decision to host the match in a neutral venue was taken after careful consideration of the prevailing security situation and in consultation with FIFA and the relevant stakeholders,” AFC said in a statement.
"Details regarding the specific venue in the UAE will be updated.”