🇶🇦 Qatar vs. Lebanon 🇱🇧
AFC Asian Cup – Group A
Friday 12th January – 16:00 GMT
BET BUILDER
⚽ Qatar to win by one goal
⚽ Almoez Ali to score anytime
💷 1pt
Best Odds: 9.50 at Bet365
The opening game of the AFC Asian Cup gets underway on late Friday afternoon as hosts Qatar take the field at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor to start the defence of the championship against Lebanon.
Ranked 58th in FIFA’s World Rankings, Qatar brings 18 out of the 26 members from the squad that participated in the 2022 World Cup into the upcoming tournament. Placed in Group A, they are expected to secure the top spot in arguably the easiest group of the competition, with upcoming matches against Lebanon, China, and Tajikistan.
Despite being the host nation, Qatar actively participated in the qualifiers, winning seven out of eight matches. During the campaign, striker Almoez Ali played a pivotal role, contributing six goals to Qatar’s total of 18. As the primary goal-scorer upfront, the 27-year-old forward has already achieved an impressive milestone of 50 international goals. Designated as the penalty taker and a consistent presence in the starting line-up, Ali’s performance is crucial to Qatar’s success. Their noteworthy display in the 2019 Asian Cup, where Ali scored nine goals, indicates their consistent performance against lower-ranked Asian nations. He is a decent price of 2.50 at Bet365 to score anytime.
Lebanon earned their spot in the Asian Cup by qualifying from a manageable four-team group. While South Korea topped the table, Lebanon secured direct qualification with two crucial goals. The squad is predominantly composed of local players, with fitness potentially becoming a concern as their domestic league concluded several weeks ago. Lebanon’s track record against higher-ranked nations is limited, with their proudest moment as a nation, drawing at home to South Korea in 2019.
Approaching this game cautiously, it’s worth noting that Lebanon, who are 107th in the World Rankings, hasn’t experienced any heavy defeats in recent matches. Last week in a friendly against Saudi Arabia, they were narrowly beaten by a solitary goal. Before that, they secured a 2-1 victory against Jordan. Looking back at the World Cup qualifiers, Lebanon have recorded a pair of draws against Bangladesh and Palestine and prior to that, they lost 2-1 to the United Arab Emirates and 3-2 to Montenegro in friendly matches.
Although Qatar has defeated Cambodia (107th) and India (102nd) both by 3-0 and Afghanistan (158th) 8-1 in the last two months, apart from the Indians, these teams are ranked way lower than Friday’s opponents.
Good luck!
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