Qatar keeper saves the day

Al Khor – Qatar’s shootout hero Meshaal Barsham (above) credited “anticipation and luck” as the hosts and holders moved into an Asian Cup semifinal against Iran after beating Uzbekistan on penalties on Saturday.

Goalkeeper Barsham saved three times in the shoot-out as Qatar won 3-2 after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time in their quarterfinal.

Pedro Miguel dispatched their final penalty to spark wild celebrations in front of almost 60 000 fans at the tent-like Al-Bayt Stadium north of Doha.

The triumphant Qatar players tossed Barsham in the air at the end but the goalkeeper said fortune was on his side.

“With penalties there is some anticipation and there is some luck,” he said.

“Thankfully I got lucky and saved three penalties.”

Qatar’s opponents in the semifinal will be Iran, who beat pre-tournament favourites Japan 2-1 in the day’s earlier quarterfinal.

Qatar also missed twice in the shoot-out, with Almoez Ali seeing his kick saved and Almahdi Ali blazing horribly over.

But Barsham made it look easy, especially in holding his ground in the middle of the goal to stop Uzbekistan’s fifth spot kick from Jaloliddin Masharipov.

“I’ve played against him before with my club so I expected him to shoot down the middle,” said Barsham.

Qatar had won their four previous games at the tournament but they were given a stiffer test by Uzbekistan, who some had tipped as dark horses to lift the trophy.

Qatar opened the scoring midway through the first-half when captain Hassan Al-Haydos forced an own goal from goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov.

Uzbekistan levelled just before the hour when Odiljon Hamrobekov broke free of the Qatar defence and drilled a shot into the corner of the net.

Qatar won the Asian Cup for the first time in 2019 and went into the game on a run of 11 straight wins in the competition.

Coach Tintin Marquez, who took over from Carlos Queiroz only a month before the tournament began, said they had “not accomplished anything yet” as they prepare to face Iran on Wednesday.

“Of course it is a very big match that awaits us but first we need to recover because the game went into extra time,” said the Spaniard.

“First we will enjoy what happened today [Saturday]. –