Abdulmalik’s SeeYouByMe races to Ras Laffan Cup win page 12

FRIday, DECEMBER 4, 2020

AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifier Continental champs Qatar seek advantage against Bangladesh AFC the pandemic, with Day’s side Doha facing off twice in friendlies against Nepal last month, win- Qatar will look to move clos- ning the first game 2-0 before er to confirming their place the teams shared a 0-0 draw. at the AFC Asian Cup China The victory over the Nepa- 2023 Finals on Friday as Felix lese was Bangladesh’s sec- Sanchez’s continental champi- ond success in 2020, having ons host Bangladesh in Group picked up a 3-0 win over Sri E of the Asian Qualifiers at Lanka in the Bangabandhu Doha’s Abdullah Bin Khalifa Gold Cup friendly tournament Stadium at 7pm. in Dhaka in January. The winners of the 2019 Bangladesh have since met AFC Asian Cup lead the stand- amateur side Qatar Army and ings with 13 points from their Coach talk second division club Lusail first five games and, with a We are very happy to return Sports Club in training games nine-point lead over third in Doha, losing both matches, placed Afghanistan and three to playing official games, and assistant coach Stuart matches remaining, the Qa- and I have great confidence Watkiss knows his team face taris know a solitary point will in the players who will play a major challenge against the take them four points clear of in tomorrow’s game. Asian champions. second-placed Oman. “You only get truly match- Winning the group will as- Felix Sanchez fit by playing competitive sure Qatar their place in Chi- matches, but unfortunately na 2023, which they can also Bangladesh have not played we have still not played nearly achieve by finishing as one of in official competition for even enough,” Watkiss told The the best four second-placed longer due to the disruption Daily Star. “Qatar’s players teams at the end of the second caused by the pandemic. have played many matches, round of the Asian Qualifiers. Jamie Day’s side, who are so they have an advantage in In what promises to be an The two teams last met on Matchday Three of the Asian Qualifiers, with Qatar winning the game 2-0 in Dhaka. bottom of the standings with terms of fitness.” absorbing tie, 1,800 tickets a solitary point picked up in The two teams last met on have been made available for his side’s first competitive turn to playing official games, SC to be included in the 23-man with the senior national team, a 1-1 draw with India in Octo- Matchday Three of the Asian fans to watch the firstA sian game in 2020, which comes and I have great confidence in selection, while Almoez Ali, the and it’s a huge responsibility. I ber last year, last played com- Qualifiers, with Qatar winning Qualifiers match to be played just three weeks after Qatar the players who will play in to- leading scorer at the 2019 AFC want to thank the coach for his petitively when they lost 4-1 the game 2-0 in Dhaka. Qatar in 2020 with the COVID-19 slipped to a 2-1 loss at the morrow’s game,” said Sanchez. Asian Cup, is one of six from Al great trust in me.” to Oman in Group E action in lead the group with 13 points, pandemic having forced the hands of South Korea in a Reigning AFC Player of the Duhail SC to feature. The game will be Qatar’s November 2019. one ahead of Oman, with Af- postponement of fixturesfriendly in Austria, the third year Akram Afif and his prede- Qatar National team play- first competitive match since However, Bangladesh ghanistan in third on four scheduled in March and June. match without a win for the cessor Abdel Karim Hassan are er Mohammed Waad, speak- losing 1-0 to Saudi Arabia in have sought to regain fitness points. India have two points Head coach Sanchez has FIFA World Cup 2022 hosts. among nine players from Qatar ing ahead of the match, said, the semi-final of the Gulf Cup in recent weeks following a and Bangladesh prop up the named a strong squad for “We are very happy to re- Stars League leaders Al Sadd “This is my first official game in December last year, while nationwide shutdown due to table with one point. Adailton fires FC Tokyo into last 16 AFP Doha Results FC Tokyo 1 (Adailton dos Santos da Silva 8’) bt Perth Glory 0 Brazilian midfielder Adail- Ulsan Hyundai 4 (Park jeong-in 3’, Lee Sang-heon 24’, Bjorn Johnsen 75’ (P), ton scored a brilliant solo goal in 90’) bt Shanghai Shenhua 1 (Bi Jinhao 60’) the first half as FC Tokyo edged past Perth Glory 1-0 to seal the powerful effort from outside Shanghai crash out second round-of-16 spot from the penalty area saw Reddy Shanghai Shenhua’s defeat Group F in the Asian Champi- producing a fine save. by Ulsan Hyundai meant they Melbourne’s players celebrate their win and qualification in the AFC ons League on Thursday. Perth Glory took control of failed to make the last 16 for Champions League following their Group E match against Korea’s South Korean giants Ulsan the match in the second half the first time since 2006. FC Seoul at the Education City Stadium on Thursday. (AFP) Hyundai had already made the but could not get past the To- Having booked their cut as guaranteed group win- kyo defence, ending up at the knockout berth earlier, Ulsan ners, leaving FC Tokyo and bottom of the table with just made several changes to their Melbourne advance Shanghai Shenhua scrapping one point from six matches. line-up but Park Jeong-in and for second place with both FC Tokyo coach Kente Lee Sang-heon put them 2-0 teams on seven points from Hasegawa said he always ahead at the break. at Seoul’s expense five matches. had confidence in his team’s Bjorn Johnsen then add- But Shanghai Shenhua abilities. ed a second-half brace as the AFC bling his tally in the 57th minute fell to a crushing 4-1 defeat “Today we are very hap- Koreans recorded their fifth Doha but his lobbed attempt passed by Ulsan on Thursday to exit py about qualifying for the straight win. narrowly wide of the post. the tournament, while FC To- next round. Some players “After we qualified for the Melbourne Victory reached Former Arsenal forward kyo’s narrow win over Perth who didn’t play much before round of 16, I expected a few the AFC Champions League Park Chu-young tried to drive Glory helped them maintain played today and Adailton players might lose concentra- knockout stage for the second FC Seoul forward in the sec- their record of qualifying for scored a very good goal,” said tion but all the players concen- time in their history after beat- ond half and curled an effort the knockout phase every year Hasegawa. trated and played well,” said ing FC Seoul 2-1 in the decisive from a free-kick 30 yards out since their continental debut “We tried to score more Ulsan coach Kim Do-hoon. Matchday Six fixture of Group past the wall, but Crocombe in 2012. goals in the second half but “We had a lot of young E of the 2020 AFC Champions was alert and caught the ball. Adailton was in the thick also we knew the result of the players and they did their job. League on Thursday. Soo’s repeated attempts of the action in the very first other game (Ulsan were lead- I asked them to play aggres- With the top spot in the from set-pieces finally bore minute at the Education City ing 2-0 against Shenhua at sively with combination play group secured by Beijing FC, fruit as the FC Seoul defender Stadium when he went for a half time), so we were more and high press, and they did it the two sides went into the beat the Australian goalkeeper spectacular bicycle kick off comfortable.” all very well.” game with the knowledge to Han Seung-gyu’s cross, a cross from Takuya Uchida Perth Glory’s Cristian Ola Shanghai Shenhua’s Choi that their future in the com- powering in a header to half only to see the ball sail over said fatigue was a big factor for Kang-hee said the Covid-19 petition hung on achieving a the deficit in the 64th minute. the goalpost. his team’s poor show. pandemic meant they faced a result on the night, for Mel- Osmar nearly got the equal- But he compensated for “Not happy with the result number of difficulties in play- bourne Victory that meant the iser four minutes after their that miss in style seven min- but happy with our boys’ efforts ing the competition. three points only, while a draw first goal as he rose to head utes later with a brilliant 30- and display considering it was “We understand it’s a pan- would be enough for FC Seoul. Han’s cross, but the Spaniard’s yard burst down the left flank, their fifth game in a short space demic. It’s a special time, and Melbourne Victory came attempt was saved by the Mel- scoring with a curling shot past of time which is not something we have to play in this kind of racing out of the blocks and bourne Victory goalkeeper. Perth goalkeeper Liam Reddy. we are used to,” said Ola. way, but we hope in the fu- within five minutes they had Needing just one more goal Two minutes later, Adai- “Fatigue was our biggest ture the tournament won’t be FC Tokyo’s forward Adailton celebrates his goal during the AFC opened the scoring through to qualify to the next round, lton found himself in a great opponent today but congratu- played with such a tight fix- Champions League Group F match against Perth Glory at the Marco Rojas. The New Zea- FC Seoul piled on the pressure position to strike again but his lations to FC Tokyo.” ture list.” Education City Stadium on Thursday. (AFP) land international was sent as their opponents retreated through on goal by Callum deeper and looked to see off McManaman and kept his the remainder of the match. composure to finish past goal- The result means Mel- keeper Yang Han-been for the bourne Victory advance to Chiangrai United hold Beijing FC to end their campaign on a high Australian side’s opener. the knock-out stages, setting At the halfway point of the up a round of 16 encounter Doha: Beijing FC completed their lack of intensity in the opening and Ba Dun nearly punished the minutes later, with Panya finish- levelled the match within five min- first half, Melbourne Victory with Group F winners Ulsan AFC Champions League group exchanges but two consecutive Chiangrai goalkeeper for a poorly ing off a lovely counterattacking utes had Zhang Xizhe not blazed were given a golden opportu- Hyundai, while Beijing FC had stage campaign with an unbeaten clashes between Chiangrai’s Bill hit goal kick but it came as little move involving Bill with a precise his effort high and wide after nity to double their advantage earlier learned they would be record, coming from behind to and Beijing’s Yang Fan injected surprise that the two teams curling strike which went in off the getting into a good position at the after McManaman was brought facing FC Tokyo next. share the spoils in a 1-1 draw sense of seriousness into the went to the interval at 0-0. They upright to make it 1-0. Beijing’s hour mark. The Thai side finished down inside the box. Jake Brim- Scoreline: Melbourne Victory 2 against Chiangrai United on clash. issued a warning when Sanukran title hopes weren’t on the line, their maiden AFC Champions mer stepped up and converted (Marco Rojas 5’, Jake Brimmer Thursday. It was a period of few clear-cut Thinjom blasted a free-kick just but they didn’t want to lose their League campaign with five points, from the spot to make it 2-0. 23’ (P)) bt FC Seoul 1 (Hwang With little on the line for either chances. Lyu Peng forced Apirak wide in the 53rd minute, and the status as the tournament’s while Beijing will face FC Tokyo in Brimmer came close to dou- Hyun-soo 64’). side there was an understandable Worawong into a solid low save, breakthrough arrived just two form team, and they could have the Round of 16 on Sunday. (AFC)