Qatar needed to beat Kuwait by a two-goal margin to progress into the semi-finals but the Asian champions had to settle for draw.
Kuwait opened the scoring through Mohammed Daham in the 74th minute, before Mohamed Muntari equalised for Qatar in the last minute of stoppage time but the Al Annabi ran out of time to find the winner. Qatar finished last in Group A with just two points, while Kuwait finished second with five points to qualify for the semis. In the other match, Oman held the United Arab Emirates to 1-1 draw to top the group and also qualify for the semis.
With both matches kicking off at the same time and all four teams still in with a chance to qualify, it was nail-biting stuff for the 57,742 fans packed into the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium.
But they were celebrating following a 1-1 draw with Qatar. It was Qatar who thought they had opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Yusuf Abdurisag headed in from a corner, but the referee blew for a foul on the goalkeeper.
Kuwait’s first opportunity to take the lead came on 62 minutes when Daham burst through the Qatari defence but saw his low shot come back off the post. And then just a minute later, the same player saw another effort hit the same spot on the upright.
At the other end, substitute Muntari thought he had finally broken the deadlock for Qatar but his effort was ruled out by a late flag for offside. But it was Daham that finally got his deserved goal to send the stadium into raptures. A free-kick was awarded on the edge of the box for handball and the striker bent it past the wall into the far corner.
There was more drama in the 77th minute when the referee was sent to the television to check a VAR call on a penalty for Qatar, but after a long deliberation he turned it down.
Kuwait faced a nervous final couple of minutes when Muntari headed home for Qatar to make it 1-1, but The Blues held on for a memorable, and deserved, point to go through.
Qatar coach Luis Garcia said his players played a ‘great match’ and were ‘not lucky’ to win on the night. “We did everything we could to win and qualify, but we were not successful despite playing a great match. I think we were not lucky in converting many of the opportunities we had, and the players did what they had to do,” he said.
Kuwait coach Antonio Pizzi was delighted to qualify for the semis. “We are happy to qualify for the semi-finals. We were optimistic before the match, and I am proud of the wonderful performance the players gave against a strong team. We could have won if it weren’t for the goal in the last seconds of regular time,” he said.
Meanwhile, at the Jaber Al Mubarak International Stadium, the UAE took the lead in the 20th minute through Musen Al-Ghassani. But Oman pulled level 11 minutes from time through winger Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri for the all-important point to advance.
Kuwait and Oman will now await their opponents from Group B for Tuesday night’s semi-finals with Iraq facing Saudi Arabia Saturday, and Bahrain, who are already qualified, playing Yemen at the same time.
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