Qatar Tops Group E of AFC Asian Cup after Defeating Saudi Arabia

Abu Dhabi, January 18 (QNA) - The Qatari football national team maintained Thursday their lead of Group E of the AFC Asian Cup, defeating their Saudi counterpart 2-0 in the final round of the group stage. Almoez Ali continued his strong showing, scoring the two goals to lead his team to the win. The Qatari players became the first player to score at least six goals in the competition since 2000. Qatar now has a perfect score of nine points, followed by Saudi Arabia in second place with six points. Lebanon defeated North Korea earlier today to get its first three points. Their opponent finished the tournaments without a point. Qatar will meet Iraq in the round of last-16 on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia meanwhile will play against Japan on Monday. Hasan Al Haydos missed a penalty kick in the first half, but Qatar did not need to wait long to take the lead. Ali opened the scoring when two defenders failed to clear the ball, leaving the player with an opportunity to coolly finish the ball. Ali actually scored a hatrick, but his third goal was denied by the referee as the Qatari player was adjudged to have impeded a defender at the near post first. It didn't matter for the Qatari wonderkid, as he was left unmarked to nod in his second goal of the match. (QNA)