In a dramatic night of Khaleeji Zain 26 action, Kuwait came from a goal down to beat 10-man UAE, 2-1, and Oman stunned Qatar to place Group A on a knife-edge going into Friday’s third and final group games.
At the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, UAE silenced the 48,621 crowd after just five minutes when the lively Caio Canedo headed home from point blank range following great work from Harib Abdalla.
But Kuwait had their fans back on their feet in the 16th minute when Mohammed Daham took advantage of sloppy defending to burst through and finish in style to level the scores.
And in a dramatic finish to the game, UAE had Kouame Autonne dismissed for his second yellow card in the 85th minute and, just two minutes later, another defensive lapse was pounced on by substitute Moaath Alenezi to slide into the empty net and send the crowd into raptures.
In the opening match of the night, Oman came from a goal down to stun 2022 World Cup hosts, Qatar, 2-1 at the Jaber Al-Mubarak International Stadium.
Qatar flew out of the blocks to take the lead after just two minutes through striker Almoez Ali’s 60th goal for his country. But Oman struck back in the 20th minute when Issam Al-Sabhi converted from the penalty spot to make it all square at the break.
Then Al-Sabhi struck again to put the 2023 finalists in front seven minutes into the second half when he ghosted into the back post unmarked to fire home a low cross.
Qatar pushed hard for an equaliser but Oman’s disciplined defence held firm for a memorable victory to go top of the Group A, ahead of the third and final Group A games on Friday night.
The two wins place Kuwait and Oman top of the group with four points each, and Qatar and UAE are on a point each. The top two will advance to the semi-finals.
