Saudi-Arabia has won the prestigious neighbor duel for the positions 19 and 20 after a brilliant catch-up chase and a thrilling penalty shoot-out. Finally goalkeeper Mohamad Alsalem was the match winner by saving two Qatari penalties.

Placement match 19/20:

Qatar – Saudi-Arabia 30:33 (18:10, 29:29) after penalty shoot-out

What a thrilling and emotional encounter of the two leading teams of the Gulf Region: After Qatar was away by 24:14 in the middle of the second half, Saudi-Arabia equalized with the final second and then took the 19/20 placement match victory in the President’s Cup in the penalty shoot-out by 33:30.

Already the fist half had been highly emotional, with adrenaline and tough fights on both sides and highly emotional coaches – Croat Nenad Kljaic on the Saudi-Arabian bench and Slovenian Borut Macek for Qatar. Macek’s team easily started with a clear advance of 8:2 after only nine minutes, as their defence was well prepared and the Saudis missed too many shot and on the other hand caused too many gaps in defence.

In the middle of the first half the prestigious match became tougher with a ,lot of suspensions on both sides – but still the Qatari team was in full control, extending the margin to double-figures at 16:6 after only 21 minutes for the first time, causing a certain angriness at Kljaic. Qatar was much more efficient in attack and stable in defence including goalkeeper Mohsin Yafai. The Saudi “A-team” – the last names of all 16 nominated players start with the letter A – returned slightly, reducing the gap to eight goals at the break.

But the Asian silver medallist again re-started clearly better in this Gulf Region duel, forging ahead to ten goals again, before the strongest Saudi period had started. As Qatar missed too many chances, the Saudis profited from those missed shots and turnovers to come closer by four straight goals to 24:18. Qatar was shaking, the Saudis tried everything to turn the match around, as their competitors lost their energies completely. Seven minutes before the end the gap was four goals at 23:27, three minutes later – and despite a Qatari time-out – the Saudis were close to level the match at 26:28 and 61 seconds before the final whistle it was Hisham Alobaidi, who reduced to 28:29. In the final minute the ball possession changed four times, not team could strike – until the very final second, when again Hisham Alobaidi remained cold as ice, scoring by a penalty shot for 29:29 – the decisive penalty shoot-out had to follow after the Saudis had caught up from 14:24 to 29:29.

And in this, Qatar missed two shots against Saudi goalkeeper Mohamad Alsalem, who got the right advices by coach Kljaic, while his team scored four from four – before jumping on the floor and celebrating this in minute 43 never expected victory.

Statements after the match:

Nenad Kljaic, coach Saudi-Arabia: It was a brilliant fight until the very end, and after this catch-up chase we deserved this lucky victory. Other teams might have surrendered, not mine.

Ahmad Alabdulali, player Saudi-Arabia: In the very bad first half we lacked concentration and nobody took responsibility. After the break we were determined and full of concentration.

Borut Macek, coach Qatar: Saudi-Arabia showed a strong fight for 60 minutes. As we had shown in the first half, we can play much better, but after the break my players only relaxed.

Mahmoud Osman, player Qatar: I have a very bad feeling, as we played a very bad second half, lost too many balls and were weak in defence.