Tunisia, Qatar sail into the FIFA Arab Cup semi-finals
Tunisia became the first country to advance to the semi-finals of the FIFA Arab Cup holding in Qatar.
They beat Oman 2-1 in the first quarter-finals played at the Education City stadium, Doha.
Tournament top scorer Seifeddine Jaziri nodded the Carthage Eagles ahead on 16 minutes, and failed to extend the lead few minutes after.
Tunisia utterly dominated possession yet somehow did not make it count.
That nearly came back to hunt them as Oman’s Al Alawi Arshad fired a bullet shot on 66 minutes to level scores at 1-1.
But that lead lasted just three minutes, as Tunisian captain Msakni Youssef headed a freekick to send the North Africans to the last four.
Romp
Hosts Qatar served up their fans a goals feast as they crushed United Arab Emirates 5-0 in the second quarter-final match played at Al Bayt Stadium.
Ali Almoez scored a hat trick while further goals from Abdulazeez Hatem and Boualem Khoukhi gave the 2022 hosts a second international semi-final appearance after their stellar showing at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in August.
Qatar coach was content with the result.
“We prepared our game to win, not to have most possession. UAE are a team who like to dominate the ball, but how many chances did they have against us,” he said.
“And I think we created at least five! We played an outstanding first half and all the supporters really enjoyed it. When you score five goals in one half, you have to be very, very proud.”
Later Saturday Egypt will face Jordan while Algeria will confront bitter North African rivals Morocco in arguably the match of the tournament.
