New Delhi: In the Asian Cup football tournament Qatar made a great comeback to hold co-hosts Vietnam to a 1-1 draw in their Group C tie at Hanoi on Thursday.
After a relatively slow start, both teams raised their game midway into the first half.
In the 32nd minute Vietnam took the lead when Phan Than Binh's shot was not stopped properly by Qatar goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr and the ball slipped went over the line.
Vietnam went into the break holding on to the lead but in the second half, Qatar came out with a more aggressive display as they went all-out to equalise.
The equaliser came in the 78th minute, when a deflected shot found Sebastian Quintana at the back post. Quintana had no problems in heading the ball past Vietnam keeper Duong Hong Son.
Qatar had more chances with one shot hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing out on the wrong side of the line in the 82nd minute and three more shots going narrowly wide in the closing minutes.
The draw coupled with the win over the United Arab Emirates in the opening match of Group B has given Vietnam four points and now they have a strong chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
Vietnam's match against Japan will decide which two teams from the group will make it to the next round.
After the match Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl accepted that his team was lucky.
"My team today got a lucky result. I'm happy with the result and we look forward to playing against Japan and it will be very difficult for us," Riedl said.
Qatar are on two points after having drawn both their games and now must win the last match against the United Arab Emirates to have any chance of progressing in the tournament.
However, their coach Dzemaludin Musovic was still hopeful or making it to the next round.
"I'm not satisfied with one point. (But) we could lose also. It's football, everything is possible," he said.
Japan and the United Arab Emirates face each other on Friday.
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