Despite being led 2 goals in Copa America 2019, Qatar, the AFC U23 champions, presented the strong fighting spirit.
Qatar started quite unstable right in the first match at Copa America. In the 4th minutes, a Qatar defender was fumbling to touch the ball in the penalty area. Oscar Cardozo opened the scoring by a penalty goal.
Although the goal stirred up the match, Almoez Ali left some imprints yet he could not hit Fernandez’s net while Paraguay scored the second goal then being rejected by VAR.
Turning to the second half, Paraguay continued to hit the back of the net, double the scoring gap in the 56th minute.
This is the time Qatar proves their AFC champion level. U23 Qatar Almoez Ali who used to be defeated by U23 Vietnam in AFC U23 Championship 2018, kept the hope for his team with a goal from 68th minute. Until the 77th minutes, the young talent Khoukhi scored an equalizers, finishing the game 2-2.
With this result, Qatar and Paraguay gets one point and ranks second in group B. Colombia temprarily leads the group, who thrashed Argentina in the opening match. In the second match, Qatar will encounter Colombia in Sao Paulo while Argentina faces Paraguay in Belo Horizonte.
Starting IX:
Paraguay (4-2-3-1): Fernández; Valdez, Alonso, Balbuena, Arzamendia; Rojas, Ortiz; Domínguez, Almirón, Pérez; Cardozo
Qatar (4-4-1-1): Al-Sheeb; Correia, Hisham, Salman, Abdelkarim; Al Haydos, Madebo, Khoukhi, Afif; Abdulaziz; Almoez Ali
London
