L’Alcudia, Spain: Qatar juniors played out a goalless draw against

Mexico in the second round of Group B in the L’Alcúdia International

under-20 Football Tournament, at Els Arcs Municipal Stadium,

L’ Alcudia.

Having lost their opening match to Argentina; the draw revived Qatar’s

hopes of reaching the semi-finals when they next take on Costa Rica on

Friday.

Both sides mounted numerous challenge on each other’s goalposts but

neither team conceded a goal.

Disenchanted with a 0-0 draw in their previous game against Costa

Rica, the Mexicans dictated most of the exchanges throughout the

first half, however, Qatar were the first to pose a serious threat when

striker Hassan Ahmed squandered a golden chance after being set up

by Hazem Ahmed.

For Qatar’s youngsters, despite glimpses of quality in the opening

session, a heavily dissimilar line up to the one that played Argentina

24 hours prior had to wait until the second half to shine, as the introduction

of trio Abdulrahman Fahmi, Khalid Muneer and Adel Bader helped pace

matters for Oscar Cano’s men, forcing Mexico to retreat in a bid to withstand

pressure from a Qatar side that seldom allowed their opponents any time on

the ball.

Abdulrahman Fahmi came the closest to score Qatar’s first goal of the tournament

as he dribbled his way past two defenders before striking the ball right onto

the body of the goalie, who had to swiftly run backwards to make the second save

just over the goal-line.

The Oscar Cano-coached Qatar side is currently preparing for the U-19 Asian

Cup to be held in Bahrain later this year.

Qatar are the defending champions, having won the previous edition in October

2014.

Qatar line-up: Ahmed Al Bacri (GK), Bassam Hisham, Ahmed Al Menhali, Tarek

Salman, Abdullah Abdulsalam ©, Hazem Ahmed, Khalifa Al Malki, Hussien

Bahzad, Hassan Ahmed, Hassan Waleed and Nasser Abdulsalam

Substitutes: Khalid Muneer, Adel Bader and Abdulrahman Fahmi