Qatar sweep aside Uzbekistan

Jorge Fossati's side opened the scoring after 37 minutes with a Majdi Siddiq free-kick and extended their advantage in the second half with substitute Magid Mohamed making it 2-0 in the 72nd minute before Talal Al Bloushi added a third with two minutes remaining.

The hosts had the first chance of the game as Fabio Cesar shot wide after nine minutes but the Uzbeks threatened four minutes later as Vitaliy Denisov’s header off a Timur Kapadze cross went over the crossbar.

Uzbekistan created plenty of danger with Denisov's shot from the left in the 17th minute turned wide by Kapadze, who then saw his header off a Server Djeparov cross in the 33rd minute fly over the Qatar goal.

Qatar held out and broke the deadlock eight minutes before half-time when they were awarded a free kick 25 yards out and Majdi Siddiq made no mistake with a well-taken effort which hit the underside of the crossbar before entering the net.

Uzbekistan brought on Alexander Geynrikh at half-time and the substitute almost immediately set up an equaliser as he played a neat pass to Maksim Shatskikh, who shot just wide of the left upright two minutes after restart.

Qatar had a great chance to extend their advantage in the 53rd minute when Saad Sattam played a one-two with Sebastian Quintana before passing to Fabio Cesar whose shot from outside the box was turned out by Ignatiy Nesterov for a corner.

But the home side would add a second goal in the 72nd minute when Magid Mohamed, who came on just a minute earlier for Syed Bachir, received the ball inside the area and beat four defenders before firing a left-footed shot past Nesterov.

Qatar should have added a third in the 83rd minute when substitute Khalfan Ibrahim beat Nesterov to the ball outside the area but slammed his shot against the crossbar.

But the home fans celebrated a third five minutes later when Khalfan sent a neat pass to Talal Al Bloushi who fired a powerful right-footed shot into the net to seal a big win for Qatar.