Tribune News Network
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.
A pleased Qatar coach Marquez Lopez said, "We created many opportunities and converted them on three occasions. I am happy with team’s overall performance, and most importantly the three points which we have earned from these games,” said the Spaniard.
With Iran up next, Akram Afif said Qatar’s "best is yet to come”. "It was not an easy game and we have earned a well-deserved win. We thank fans for their group support today,” he said.
Qatar, needing a win to kickstart their campaign, saw Boualem Khoukhi test Erzhan Tokotaev with a long range free-kick six minutes in while Kyrgyz Republic presented a threat on the counter.
It was winger Joel Kojo who had his side’s best sight of goal in the early exchanges, stepping inside of Khoukhi to unleash a shot from 20 yards but he pulled his attempt wide.
Kojo’s pace down the left was Kyrgyz Republic’s most likely outlet and the Uzbekistan-based winger was released on the half hour mark, once more cutting inside to shoot towards goal. This time his deflected effort was on target, but Meshaal Barsham slapped the ball to safety.
With a little over six minutes left in the half the hosts went in front.
Edmilson Junior’s corner was nodded on by Khoukhi to Abdelrahman Fahmi and, after his headed attempt came back off the crossbar, Ali was on hand to bundle the ball over the line from barely a yard out with his thigh.
Akram Afif squandered a gilt-edged opportunity when he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, lifting the ball over Tokotaev only for the attempted lob to bounce agonisingly on top of the crossbar.
But the Qatari playmaker eventually unlocked the Kyrgyz defence in the 63rd minute, firing in a low cross from the right that Kozubaev turned past his own goalkeeper although Shukurov struck back 14 minutes from time with a blistering finish off the inside of the crossbar.
But Al Hassan put the result beyond doubt when he rolled the ball in from 12 yards to give Qatar all three points.
Meanwhile, a fighting North Korea held United Arab Emirates to a 1-1 draw in their AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to 26 Group A tie at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Thursday.
Yahya Al Ghassani struck in the 66th minute to open the scoring with goalkeeper Khalid Eisa keeping out Han Kwang Song’s spot-kick, only for Jong Il Gwan to level the tie late in the game.
Uzbekistan and Iran also settled for a goalless draw at the Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent on Thursday.
The Central Asian derby saw Iran going down to 10 men in the second half following Saleh Hardani’s sending off but there was to be no winner in the evenly-matched contest as the two sides moved up to seven points.
Qatar’s tie vs Iran at
neutral venue: AFC
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 stated.