World Cup 2022 hosts Qatar started with a 2-0 win in the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup in a Group B clash against Kuwait at the Al Minaa Olympic Stadium in Iraq on Saturday night.
Amro Abdelfatah Ali Surag (23rd minute) and Ahmed Alaa (38th minute - penalty) were the scorers for new-look Qatar team from the World Cup.
After an attack from Qatar, the ball fell for Amro who smashed a right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty box. The ball landed in the bottom right corner of the Kuwait net past a helpless goalkeeper Sulaiman Abdulghafoor to put Qatar in 1-0 lead.
In the 38th minute, Kuwaiti defender Meshari Ghanam had to stop Ahmed Alaa who rushed for a free ball in front of the goal.
Alaa made no mistake from the penalty with a right-footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Kuwait goalkeeper Sulaiman saved a good attempt from Qatar in the 36th minute. Ali Asad sent Mohammed Waad with a through ball and Waad’s left-footed shot from the centre of the box was saved by the keeper in the bottom right corner.
Kuwait’s Abdullah Ghanem was shown a yellow card in the 75th minute after a foul on Ali Asad of Qatar.
Qatar substituted goal-scorer Ahmed Alaa with Yusuf Abdurisag in the next minute. Mostafa Meshaal replaced Ali Asad for a double change by Qatar head coach Bruno Pinheiro.
Another twin substitution was made in the 85th minute by Qatar.
Khalid Muneer replaced goal-scorer Amro Abdelfatah Ali Surag while Ahmed Fadel substituted Mohammed Waad.
Qatar dominated the proceedings after a two-goal advantage too as Kuwait failed to organize attacks past a vigilant Qatar midfield.
With the win, Qatar moved to top of Group B with three points and a better goal average compared to Bahrain, who earlier defeated UAE 2-1.
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