Qatar blank Honduras to capture Group D
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Qatar shut out Honduras 2-0 on Tuesday to capture Group D and reach the quarter-finals of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup tournament.
Homam Ahmed and Abdelaziz Hatem both scored for Qatar, who will next face El Salvador in the quarter-finals.
Ahmed struck to give Qatar the lead in the 25th minute of the match at BBVA Stadium in Houston, Texas. It marked the third straight match in which the champions of Asia opened the scoring.
Hatem capped the scoring with his second of the tournament, five minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Honduras needed just a point to win the group but instead they will now face Group A winner Mexico in the next round.
Panama beat Grenada 3-1, however, both teams failed to advance from Group D.
Elsewhere, Bryan Ruiz’s headed second-half goal was all Costa Rica needed to beat Jamaica 1-0 at Exploria Stadium in Florida and claim first place in Group C.
Costa Rica, who survived a red card to their goalkeeper Leonel Moreira, needed only a draw to win their group but got the win anyway.
Ruiz scored in the 53rd minute after taking a pass in the box from teammate Ariel Lassiter.
Moreira was sent off in the second half after being called for a handball outside the penalty box, in the match which was delayed for over two hours due to bad weather in the Orlando area.
The loss of Moreira left Costa
Rica with just 10 players on the field for the final 20 minutes of the match.
Suriname beat Guadeloupe 2-1 to record their first ever victory in the Gold Cup event in a game in which both clubs were already eliminated from the knockout round.
Nigel Hasselbaink scored the winner in the 79th minute, dribbling through traffic to make it 2-1.
Neither team had a chance to advance after losing their first two Group C matches.