Long scorned for a lack of soccer pedigree, Qatar are to enter the 2022 World Cup as the champions of Asia.
The Asian Cup was lifted by Qatar for the first time on Friday after a series of victories on the field just as improbable as winning the vote in 2010 that secured the FIFA showpiece for the small Gulf nation.
While Japan entered the Asian Cup hotly tipped to win a fifth title, Qatar had not even reached the semi-finals before, but confounding the disparity in the FIFA rankings — with Qatar at 93 and Japan at 50 — the Gulf nation won the final 3-1 to claim their first major soccer title.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The strong attacking display was a reflection of Qatar’s remarkable run over the past month in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), scoring 19 goals and conceding only once in winning all seven games.
“Qatar today is a top Asian team,” goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb said. “We wrote history.”
After upsetting the final favorites, players wrapped themselves in Qatari flags in a display of patriotic furor that would have resonated far beyond the stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Since joining other Arab countries in cutting diplomatic, economic and travel ties with Doha in 2017, the UAE warned residents that expressing sympathy for Qatar could lead to fines and imprisonment.
There was even an attempt by the UAE to get Qatar disqualified after losing their semi-final. Tournament organizers confirmed only hours before the final that they had dismissed the challenge against the eligibility of two Qatar players who were born outside of Qatar.
One of them, Almoez Ali, scored the opening goal against Japan in the 12th minute with an audacious overhead-kick, giving him an all-time tournament record nine goals, surpassing Ali Daei’s previous record tally of eight with Iran in 1996.
Abdulaziz Hatem doubled Qatar’s lead with a curling strike in the 27th.
While Qatar conceded their first goal of the tournament in their seventh game when Takumi Minamino netted in the 69th, Akram Afif restored the two-goal cushion in the 83rd from the penalty spot.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” Japan captain Maya Yoshida said. “But we have to learn from this defeat.”
Victory is to give Qatar renewed hope of being able to compete against the globe’s best teams when they qualify for the first time for the World Cup — as hosts — in 2022.
“This result doesn’t come from nothing,” said defender Bassam al-Rawi, the other player whose eligibility was questioned by the UAE. “It came with lot of effort. It came from determination. It came from immense hard work on the pitch. We were able to win today because we took all the chances.”
There will be an even stronger test for the squad in June, when Qatar join Japan as guest nations at the Copa America. Qatar are in a group with Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay.
“This is one step more to continue developing the team to play another tournament in the summer and to be ready for 2022, to represent Qatar as a very competitive team at the World Cup,” Qatar coach Felix Sanchez said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but