It was always going to be a question of whether the desire to win will help Hong Kong bridge the huge gap in rankings and pull of an unlikely defeat.


Qatar coach Jose Daniel Carreno.

But Qatar were simply too good.
The hosts proved to be too strong an opposition as Qatar cruised to a 2-0 win over Hong Kong in their 2018 World Cup Asian qualifying match yesterday at the Jassim bin Hamad stadium. Goals on either side of the break from captain Hassan al-Haidos and striker Sebastian Soria ensured that Qatar walked away with three points.    
Hong Kong are currently ranked at 139 while Qatar are 59 places ahead of them. But Qatar had already earned progress to the next round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers while Hong Kong had a chance to finish second and move into the second round as one of the best second placed teams. Hong Kong Coach Kim Pan-gon had said on the eve of the match that his team would come out fighting. And they did.
Hong Kong started the match, looking to disrupt the momentum of the hosts. They were constantly putting pressure on the Qatar players at the start. It didn’t take long for the hosts to find their feet and from then on, Qatar dominated the match.
With Qatar playing right to left, all the early moves came down the left flank. Abdelkarim Hassan was regularly making runs down that flank and looking to cross into the centre. While the initial attempts came to naught, the opening goal came exactly through that play.  Hassan ran down the left flank, and this time his pull back fell perfectly for al-Haidos who had shaken off his marker. The Qatar captain had no problem despatching the ball into the back of the net. With just 20 minutes on the clock, Qatar had the lead. And from there on, Hong Kong were chasing the game.
By the end of the game, Qatar had 63 per cent of possession. They had 18 shots and forced the Hong Kong keeper Yapp Hung Fai into five saves. Qatar coach Jose Daniel Carreno would have been pleased with the attacking style of play that his team were putting on. The crowd, who had gathered in large numbers, at the Al Sadd stadium would have gone home happy with the display that the home team had put up. Rodrigo Tabata could have scored a couple of goals as he continued to show the prowess which has seen him score 19 goals for Al Rayyan in the Qatar Stars League this season. The closest Tabata came was in the 66th minute when he did all the hard work of dribbling past the goalkeeper but his final shot cruelly hit the post and bounced back into safety.  
While Hong Kong did look to score goals, Qatar goalkeeper Claude Lecomte was rarely threatened. And then in the 87th minute Soria doubled his team’s advantage. The cross came in from Ismaeel Mohamed on the left and Soria was able to get to the ball before the keeper and tap it in. It was a clinical victory for the hosts.
As for Hong Kong, they will have to be content with having given it their all. China defeated Maldives 4-0 in their match. This result means that China is now in second place on the basis of a better goal difference and Hong Kong no longer have a chance to qualify for the next round.
Qatar remain unbeaten in this World Cup qualifying and are functioning as a well-knit unit. Hong Kong might not have been the strongest of opponents but the style of play that Qatar exhibited will hold them in good stead in the next round.