Qatar post consolation win in AFC Futsal Tournament

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Wednesday, February 17th 2016 07:19 AM

Tashkent: Braces from Hadi Jaber and Lucas Oliveira helped Qatar pick up their first points of the AFC Futsal Championship with a 6-2 win over Malaysia in Group D on Monday. Akmalrulnizam Idris opened the scoring for the Malaysians within a minute at Universal Stadium only for Qatar to fight back almost instantly through Mohamed Ali. Further goals from Saad Bilal and Jaber put the West Asians in firm control before Muhammad Afif pulled one back shortly before the interval. Jaber restored Qatar’s two-goal advantage in the 26th minute after Muhamad Fitri was sent off before Oliveira’s late double wrapped up the scoring as Tiago De Sousa’s side claimed the victory that left Malaysia rooted to the foot of the table without a point. “We are not satisfied because we came here to make the quarter-finals, but maybe this target was too high,” said Qatar coach De Sousa. “Our final was against Australia and I think the pressure didn’t help us. But overall this was a positive tournament. We go home with a goal difference of zero for the first time. “Today we played well and we played with pride. Now we must remember the feeling of losing to Australia and use that to work hard and improve.”