Qatar vs. El Salvador
A brace by Almoez Ali helped Qatar defeat El Salvador 3-2 last night in the first Quarterfinals match of the Gold Cup, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Ali’s brace also makes him the top scorer of the tournament so far with a total of four goals in four games. El Salvador managed to get two quick goals in an attempt to pull off a three-goal comeback, but Qatar was able to defend and see out their win.
Almoez Ali opened the scoring just two minutes into the game when a pass by Akram Afif set him up inside of the box for a shot that went past the keeper and into the bottom left corner. Just six minutes later, Abdulaziz Hatem found the back of the net as his initial fake shot opened up space for him to take a left-footed shot across goal and into the upper left corner of the goal. This was by far the prettiest goal of the game.
10 minutes into the second half, Qatar was awarded a penalty after a handball inside the box. Ali converted the penalty and completed his brace as he slotted the ball just past the keeper and into the bottom right corner, giving Qatar a three-goal lead.
Qatar had a gap of a about 10 minutes where they made to simple defensive mistakes that allowed El Salvador to pull two goals back. The first in the 63rd minute when a pass right down the middle catches the center defenders off guard and leaves the Salvadorian striker Joaquín Rivas alone in the box to poke the ball between the goalie’s legs and into the middle of the goal.
Three minutes later, a Qatari defender misjudged how much time he had, and Bryan Tamacas is able to slide in and win the ball inside the box. He then played a simple pass into Rivas who was able to shoot into the right side of the goal.
Qatar managed to come out of their initial shellshock and defend the rest of the game.
This win means that Qatar are now into the semi-finals, where they will play the winner of tonight’s match between Jamaica and the USA.
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Mexico vs. Honduras
Mexico defeated Honduras 3-0 last night at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. All three goals game in the first 38 minutes of the game. Honduras had some chances to respond but were unable to finish any of them.
The first goal came at the 26th minute when Mexican defender Luis Rodríguez played a nice cross into Rogelio Funes Mori, who was able to head it down into the ground, off the left post and into the goal. Five minutes later, an attempt from Honduras to head the ball clear, landed at the feet of Jonathan dos Santos who volleyed the ball from outside of the box, into the bottom left corner and hitting the side netting.
Orbelín Pineda closed out the scoring in the 38th minute by getting his head to another cross and placing into the right side of the goal and beating the keeper at his near post.
Honduras could only muster up two real chances in the remainder of the game, but the Mexican defense was able to handle both, and secure the victory.
This win means that Mexico are now into the Semi-finals, where they will play the winner of tonight’s match between Canada and Costa Rica.
Photo: Almoez Ali, from Shutterstock, taken by Celso Pupo
