Copa America 2019: Paraguay vs Qatar - 3 things we learned
Asian champions Qatar fought back from two goals down to hold Paraguay to a 2-2 draw and earn a valuable point in Group B in Copa America 2019.
Wonderkid Almoez Ali and Boualem Khouki struck apiece in the second-half to cancel the deficit after Oscar Cardozo and Derlis Gonzalez were on target for the Albirroja.
With creativity and imagination running dry for large spells of the match, individual moments of brilliance from Gonzalez and Ali lifted it out of the rut before the bizarre fashion of Al-Annabi's equalizer - forced in after Rodrigo Rojas inadvertently nodded the ball into his own net - applied the finishing touches.
Here are three observations from the match:
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#1 Ali Almoez is some serious talent
Qatar's stunning Asia Cup triumph earlier in the year was majorly down to the prolific run of this 18-year-old prodigy, who plonked upon every defense on his way and netted an all-time tournament high of nine goals.
The Maroons were always going to need something special from Ali to harbor any hopes of progressing, and the blinder of a shot that put the guests on their way to restoring parity is exactly what we're talking about.
The Al-Duhail striker was rather underwhelming until the point, devoid of proper service and left to only feed off a couple of half chances. But he was finally able to pull a rabbit out of his hat midway through the second stanza when he produced a moment of pure quality after twisting and turning beyond his markers to let rip a breath-taking curler into the top corner.
Ali's talent came to the fore for only a brief period, but the kind of impression it left on us shows how remarkable the same is.