SPORTS EDITORIAL – The Qatari soccer team surprised and upset Mexico this Sunday, which did nothing to avoid a 0-1 defeat on the last day of group B of the Gold Cup that took place in the Californian city of Santa Clara .
Hazem Shehata scored the goal with which Qatar signed its first victory of the tournament and qualified for the quarterfinals with four points.
Despite the fall, the Mexicans finished as leaders with six units.
The result marked the end of the undefeated that Jaime Lozano, interim coach, had with El Tri in his first two games, victories over Honduras and Haiti.
The Mexicans dominated 71% of the possession in the first half, but only managed three shots on goal, while the Qataris in their first arrival went ahead on the scoreboard.
Ozziel Herrera was the first to try for Mexico when at minute 15 he shot on goal where goalkeeper Meshaaal Barsham finished off.
After that came the goal from Qatar, when Edson Álvarez made a bad start in which he lost the ball, an error that Musaab Khidir took advantage of, from the right, to put a service into the area that Hazem Shehata, without markers, headed for the 0- 1.
The Mexicans had the clearest of the first part at 30 with a header from Santiago Giménez that was chopped, but Barsham reacted in a good way to reject.
Mexico continued as the owner of the ball in the second half, however they missed their chances again. Giménez, who played his first game as a starter in the Lozano era, missed his team’s two most dangerous games, at 51 and 70.
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Given the lack of ability to transform their superiority into goals, the Mexicans lost their minds, committed several fouls and suffered all their bookings of the match, that of Giménez and that of Gerardo Arteaga.
While the Qataris were in charge of contributing to Mexico’s desperation, looking for fouls to be committed, closing in defense and stalling for time by jumping onto the field every time they received contact.
DATA SHEET
0. Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Julián Araujo (Uriel Antuna, m.81), Israel Reyes, Luis Romo (Erick Sánchez m.81), Gerardo Arteaga; Edson Álvarez, Carlos Rodríguez (Henry Martín, m.70), Orbelín Pineda (Diego Lainez, m.60), Luis Chávez; Ozziel Herrera (Roberto Alvarado m.60) and Santiago Giménez.
COACH: JAIME LOZANO
Qatar: Meshaal Barsham; Ahmed Suhail, Hazem Shehata (Al Mejaba Mahdi, m.77), Tarek Salman, Mohammed Waad (Ali Asad, m.40), Musaab Khidir; Homam Ahmed, Ahmed Abdoulla, Abdulla Al Marafi (Youssef Farahat d.53), Mostafa Mashal; Tameem Alabdulla (Assim Madibo, d.78).
COACH: CARLOS QUEIROZ
Goal: 0-1, m.27: Hazem Shehata;
Referee: Drew Fischer, from Canada. He admonished Mohammed Waad, Ahmed Abdoulla, Tarek Salman, Tameeem Alabdulla, Santiago Giménez, Gerardo Arteaga, Al Mejaba Mahdi, Mostafa Mashal and Assim Madibo.
Incidents: Match of the third and final day of group B of the Gold Cup played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California (USA).
