Hosts and holders Qatar fought back to defeat Palestine 2-1 and reach the Asian Cup quarter-finals on Monday, joining a Jordan side who struck twice in injury time to stun Iraq.
Qatar will face the winner of Tuesday’s last-16 meeting between Uzbekistan and Thailand, the lowest-ranked team left in Doha at 113 in the world.
Palestine coach Makram Daboub said he was proud of his “champions” as their best Asian Cup came to an end in the last 16.
Palestine were playing in the knockout rounds for the first time and, against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, took a surprise first-half lead.
Fresh from beating Hong Kong 3-0 for their first win in the competition’s history, Palestine made a bright start and Oday Dabbagh fired them ahead on 37 minutes.
He and his team-mates celebrated by crossing their raised arms in a handcuffs gesture to symbolise the plight of the Palestinian people.
Qatar had failed to settle in front of an expectant home crowd and the Palestinians, ranked 99 to the hosts’ 58, were dreaming of making more history by advancing against the odds.
But captain Hassan Al-Haydos came to Qatar’s rescue on the stroke of half-time when he rammed the ball past goalkeeper Rami Hamada after a corner was neatly cut back to him by Akram Afif.
Four minutes after the break Afif scored his fourth goal of the tournament, from the penalty spot, and Qatar cruised through the rest of the match.
The attendance of more than 60,000 meant this 18th edition is already the most-watched Asian Cup with 1.06 million people through the turnstiles so far, beating the 1.04 million who attended in China in 2004.
