Qatar stays perfect
AKRAM Afif scored twice as Asian champions Qatar defeated Kuwait 3-0 in Doha yesterday to maintain their perfect start to the second round of the continent’s preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup.
Afif, wearing the captain’s armband after Hassan Al-Haydos announced his international retirement at the weekend, opened and closed the scoring for Marquez Lopez’s side as Qatar moved on to nine points from three Group A matches.
The Al-Sadd forward tapped in from close range two minutes into the second half to put Qatar in front and Ahmed Al-Rawi doubled the lead four minutes later when he pounced on a rebound after Sulaiman Abdulghafoor had spilled a long-range shot.
Afif also saw his shot kept out by Abdulghafoor in the 68th minute only to score at the second attempt and put the seal on Qatar’s win.
The win moves the Asian Cup holders five points clear at the top of the group standings, with India in second after a 0-0 draw with Afghanistan.
The first two finishers in each of the nine groups advance to the next stage of determining which nations will take Asia’s eight guaranteed berths at the 48-team World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Reigning Asian Player of the Year Salem Al-Dawsari scored the only goal as Saudi Arabia won 1-0 against Tajikistan in Riyadh to move on to nine points in Group G, five ahead of the Tajiks and Jordan, who won 3-0 against Pakistan.
Oman ensured that three teams are on six points at the halfway point in Group D by handing Malaysia their first loss of the preliminaries with a 2-0 win over Kim Pan-gon’s side in Muscat.
Kyrgyzstan also have six points as a result of their 2-0 victory over Taiwan.