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.