23 Jan 2019
Abu Dhabi, 22 January 2019. A glorious free-kick of Aspire Academy-graduate Bassam Al Rawi proved the difference on Tuesday as Qatar’s football national team – with seven former Aspire student-athletes in the starting XI - beat Iraq 1-0 to progress through to the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 quarter-finals.
Bassam Al Rawi, who was already on target in scoring a set piece against Lebanon in Qatar's opening game of the tournament, hit a brilliant free-kick as Qatar beat Iraq 1-0 at Al Nahyan Stadium to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup. Another success factor was Qatar’s rock solid defense: Qatar are just the 4th side that has gone through their opening four games of an Asian Cup tournament without conceding.
Qatar will now go on to meet South Korea in the last eight after winning their first Asian Cup knockout match, with that game set to be played on Friday. Although Sanchez’s side will be the underdogs, he has full faith in his side’s chances of making more Asian Cup history. “We were patient, we had to adapt,” Sanchez said after the game. “Once you reach this stage you want to win the tournament – and our players have shown they are capable.”