Qatar’s four-goal Ali equals record against North Korea
AL AIN: Qatar strode impressively into the knockout rounds of the Asian Cup on Sunday as the 2022 World Cup hosts handed North Korea a 6-0 thrashing, with striker Almoez Ali scoring a recordequalling four times for Felix Sanchez’s side.
The Al Duhail forward was in rampant form for the Qataris as he became only the fourth player in Asian Cup history to score four in a single game.
Ali helped himself against a poor North Korean side, who trailed from the ninth minute and were six goals down with a quarter of the game still to go.
Qatar’s win moves them into pole position in Group E and means they can finish no lower than second in the group whatever the outcome of their meeting with Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
The winner of that tie will face either Japan or Uzbekistan in the last 16 after those two nations guaranteed they would finish in first and second place in group F following wins over Oman and Turkmenistan respectively.
The leading pair also meet on Thursday to determine the finishing order in the group.