Hassan earns Qatar 1-0 win over Slovenia in friendly

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Tuesday, March 31st 2015 03:53 AM

DOHA: In form full back Abdulkarim Hassan scored a second-half winner to earn Qatar a 1-0 victory over Slovenia in the international friendly played at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium. Four days ago, Qatar recorded a similar 1-0 win over Algeria, progressively making amends for a disappointing showing at the 2015 Asian Cup earlier this year. Qatar dominated their opponents throughout the opening 45 minutes, Midfielder Ali Asaddalah – who scored the winner against Algeria – constantly found himself on the creating end of several scoring opportunities but was stopped by some resolute goalkeeping from Atlético de Madrid’s Jan Oblak. Abdulkarim Hassan scored the match’s lone goal just one minute inside the second-half through a beautifully executed long rang shot, forcing a rather reserved Slovenian side to valiantly try to level the score. Djamal Belmadi’s decision to field in Khalfan Ibrahim and Yousif Ahmed tipped the scales in favor of Qatar who looked perilous on the counter-attack, and took the pressure off of keeper Saad Al Sheeb, who wasn’t summoned to make a genuine save until the game’s closing stages. Qatar will next camp at St George’s Park, England for the upcoming phase of training ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The training camp will also be part of the preparation for the 2019 Asian Cup qualification. The training camp at St George’s Park will run from May 26 to June 4. The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia while the 2019 Asian Cup will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates. Qatar Line-up: Saad Al Sheeb, Abdul Rahman Abkar, Mohammed Kassola, Tresor Mohammed Abdullah, Khaled Muftah, Ahmed Abdel Maksoud, Hatem Abdul Aziz, Ali Asad , Muhammad Muntari , Mohammed Ismail and Abdul Karim Hassan. Substitutes: Majid Mohammed, Yousif Ahmed, Khalfan Ibrahim, Hussein Ali and Dami Traore. 24645106