Qatar defeated Tajikistan 1-0 in the second round of Group A to qualify for the Round of 16.
The key to this win was the flexibility of the front line, even though Tajik was playing a lot of defense, Qatar still showed patience and gradually created openings to attack. Akram Afif scored again in this match, and his 3 goals are very high, I think his ability to create space under pressure is even more important to the team. As the National Football Team has to win this match to qualify for the knockout stage, Akram Afif may have a chance to break through behind the opponent's defense. However, as Qatar are sure to finish first, he may be given a rest to start as a backup.
The National Football Team (NFF) had a 0-0 draw against Lebanon in their last match, in other words, they could only draw with their opponents in both rounds of the group stage. Although they are in the second place of this group stage, they need to win this match to make sure they can qualify for the knockout stage, so there is no doubt that they are determined to win. In fact, the Chinese soccer team created a lot of chances in this game, but in the end, they failed to convert them into goals due to the lack of quality in front of the goal. I still feel that Wu Lei is the player who has the best chance of scoring in front of goal, however, Xie Pengfei showed some quality when he came in as a backup against Lebanon. Since Qatar is already out of the tournament, there is a chance that they will make some changes for this match. China, on the other hand, must win, and if they fail to score early in the game, they will get more and more anxious. I expect this game to end in a draw, with one point each.
On the other hand, Tajik lost 0-1 to Qatar in the last match, and there were a lot of physical collisions between the two sides in the match, which led to the team losing their cool and some of the players were kicked out of the match. Like in the first round of the group stage, Dzhalilov again seems to be the most quality player in Tajik's front line, and I feel that he can score this time with his ability to get behind the opponent's defense and make a tackle. A win for Tajik will give them a good chance of advancing to the second round, and since the Lebanese defense is mediocre, I think Tajik should try to create chances on both flanks.
