CHANGZHOU: Striker Almoez Ali on Tuesday said team work helped Qatar edge a powerful Uzbekistan side in their opening AFC U-23 Asian Cup match.

Almoez Ali’s second half strike proved the difference as Qatar recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Uzbekistan at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center on Tuesday.

“It was a tough match in which you saw good football. But I would say our team work saw us through,” Ali, the goal-hero, said after the match on Tuesday.

“Uzbekistan are a good side so we had a strategy in mind and that is to reduce their scoring opportunities. That is why you saw there were no goals in the first half,” the tall striker said.

“We planned a lot for this game. We scored in the second half and then there were more attacks from them,” Ali said. “I would say we had our boys should-to-shoulder in defense. We didn’t allow any goals.

“I would say even we had opportunity to score more goals. We could have got another but they also defended well in the second half,” the Qatar hero said.

“I think it feels great that we got through 1-0 than settling for a 1-1 draw. You saw the fights. It feels good. They put us under a lot of pressure but we faced them bravely,” Ali said.

“We kept fighting until the last minute. That was the best part about our win,” he added.

Qatar next play Oman on January 12 followed by a game against hosts China on the 15th of this month.

On Tuesday, in another Group A match, China crushed Oman.