The selections of Saudi Arabia and Qatar play this Thursday, January 17, for the first place in group E of the 2019 Asia Cup, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. The match, which concludes the third and final round of the qualifying round, will be held at the Zayed Sports City stadium in Abu Dhabi starting at 2:00 p.m.The two teams were among the best performers in the initial stage. They accumulated the six possible points and, thus, secured with a day of anticipation their place in the eighth of end. Thus, the game will only serve to define who will get the first place and the formation of the keys to the eliminatory stages, since the campaign does not offer any advantage in the next stages.The group E champion will have second place in Group D. The runner-up will face the winner of the F key. At the same time, they will fight for the third place in the group and an opportunity to advance the play-offs of the teams in Lebanon and North Korea.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudis, who made their place in the last World Cup in Russia and came in as title contenders, did justice to the prognosis. In their debut, they thrashed the North Koreans 4-0.Such a feat was minimized by Han Kwang’s dismissal at 44 minutes from the start. However, the Saudi team only got one more athlete in contention after having built a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.In the second match, against Lebanon, it returned to show its consistency by scoring 2-0. Although it was not a rout, the Saudi team showed absolute control of the confrontation with massive possession of the ball (70% of the time), five times more attempts finals (15 to 5), almost half of them on target (7) and without allowing even a ball from the rival to bother his goalkeeper.This is the face of a technically stronger selection than their debut and full-time opponents all the time. Evolution signal that extended to six the sequence of unbeaten games of the Saudis. It was three draws and three wins including the friendly matches for the Asian Cup.
Qatar
Guaranteed in the 2022 World Cup for being the host country of the dispute, the selection of Qatar will show each competition that has taken steps to improve the quality of football in the country.He made it 2-0 in the Lebanon squad, showing superior football and dominance quite close to what the Saudis had achieved in their match against the Lebanese. There were 70% possession of the ball, 13 attempts to finalize (against five of the Lebanese), five of them in the target. They did not succeed in getting past the opponents, who sent a ball in the direction of his bow, but almost.The Koreans, however, had the opportunity to show service that beat the Saudis by 6-0. The rivals also had an athlete expelled, but that was irrelevant, since it happened at 45 minutes of the second stage, when the massacre had already been consolidated.The most impressive was that the use of the finalizations. With numbers similar to the previous game, Qatar had 64% possession time, 13 attempts to finish, with six of them going in the right direction. They all stopped at the bottom of the net.
Football Prediction of the Day Saudi Arabia vs Qatar
The Saudis have an advantage in hindsight against the Catharians. There were 17 wins, 15 draws and six losses. The most recent meetings were held in the 2014 Gulf Cup edition. There was a 1-1 draw in Qatar’s first showdown and 2-1 victory in Qatar.
Six kicks in the goal, six balls in the net. The offensive performance of Qatar’s team against North Korea was certainly an exception. One should not expect this to be repeated especially in front of a better level team. In Thursday’s match, both teams are likely to choose to preserve their athletes. The battle for the first place is not so significant. In this scenario, the Saudis, with a more robust cast, can take some advantage. Thus, the prognosis in Saudi Arabia’s victory ends up being the best option for the duel for the last round of the Asian Cup qualifying round.
Bet Tips: Saudi Arabia wins
Odds: 2.87