DOHA: Those who host and hold On Monday, Qatar rallied to upset Palestine 2-1 and advance to the Asian Cup quarterfinals, joining a Jordanian team that had stunned Iraq with two late goals.
The winner of Tuesday’s last-16 match between Thailand and Uzbekistan, the lowest-ranked team still in Doha at 113 in the world, will take on Qatar.
After the final whistle, a small girl in the audience at the tent-like Al-Bayt Stadium north of Doha held up a sign that read “Sorry Palestine.”
Palestine’s greatest Asian Cup ended in the round of 16, but its coach Makram Daboub expressed his pride in his “champions” anyway.
Palestine, who were participating in the knockout stages for the first time, surprised everyone by taking an early lead in the first half of the match against Israel-Hamas in Gaza.
After winning their first-ever match in the competition against Hong Kong 3-0, Palestine got off to a strong start, and on 37 minutes, Oday Dabbagh put them ahead.
In celebration, he and his teammates crossed their raised arms to represent the Palestinian people’s struggle, much like handcuffs.
Awaiting a receptive home crowd, Qatar had failed to settle, and the Palestinians, ranked 99 against the hosts’ 58, were dreaming of making further history by overcoming the odds.
However, just as the half was coming to an end, captain Hassan Al-Haydos saved the day for Qatar by smashing the ball past goalkeeper Rami Hamada after Akram Afif had beautifully cut back a corner to him.
Afif scored his fourth goal of the competition four minutes after the half, using the penalty kick, and Qatar won the remaining minutes of play with ease.
“Gave everything despite the very difficult circumstances,” according to Daboub, who coached them.
“I can’t ask any more of them — they have honoured Palestinian football,” he stated.
With over 60,000 spectators, the 18th edition of the Asian Cup has already surpassed the 1.04 million that watched it in China in 2004 with 1.06 million viewers through the turnstiles thus far.
