19 Jan 2018
Changzhou, 19 January 2018. Aspire Academy-graduate Almoez Ali continued his rich vein of form at the AFC U23 Championship 2018 as his brace and Hisham Ali’s second half strike helped Qatar survive a late Palestine revival to seal a place in the semi-finals courtesy of an eventful 3-2 win.
The Al Duhail forward starred throughout an intriguing encounter to guide Group A winner Qatar, who finished fourth at the competition’s 2016 edition, into the next phase and break Palestinian hearts after they had forced their way back into the game late on. Qatar are now scheduled to meet Vietnam in the last four on Tuesday.
“It is amazing that I was able to score two more goals, and I want to say congratulations to my team because we played a very good game,” Almoez said after netting his fourth and fifth goals of the campaign. “Qualifying for the semi-finals is very important for us, and we are very happy to reach this stage of the tournament. However, I will still tell my team that we must continue working hard if we are to win the title.”
His teammate Hisham Ali had two reasons to celebrate: Not only did he manage to score his first tournament goal, the Aspire student-athlete and Al Saad Sports Club player became the youngest player ever to score at the AFC U23 Championship in all its editions with 17 years, 5 months and 2 days.
While the victory helped set up a last four meeting with Vietnam, coach Felix Sanchez believes it also underlined one of his squad’s key characteristics. “I think these players have showed for the last four years that they are very competitive,” explained the Spaniard, who oversaw the Qatar side that finished fourth at the tournament’s 2016 edition.
“This group won the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship in Myanmar, and they reached the last four at the U23 Championship two years ago in Qatar. We are once again in the last four, while a lot of teams who came to win this competition are already out. We are also in the top four of Asia which for Qatar is, I believe, a very good achievement. But of course, we are going to fight very hard to go even further in this competition.”
Source: www.the-afc.com