Panama held Asian champions Qatar to a 3-3 draw in their CONCACAF Gold Cup Group D opener on Tuesday. Qatar grabbed the lead three times in the match but were pegged back by the Panamanians each time. Qatar is playing with teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean as part of their preparations for the 2022 World Cup.
After a strong weather warning, the game in Houston was delayed by over two hours. In the 48th minute, Qatar took the lead with Akram Arif slamming home decisively from close range after Pedro Miguel crossed into his path from the edge of the six-yard area.
In the 51st minute, a skillfully orchestrated move from a corner created an opening for Rolando Blackburn, whose precise header sailed into the bottom right corner to level the score 1-1. Qatar took the lead again only a few minutes later, thanks to a wonderful through ball from Akram Afif, who sent Almoez Ali racing through on goal. At the 53rd minute mark, the 24-year-old attacker took his time before slamming a low shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-1.
Panama, on the other hand, was level within five minutes, taking advantage of Qatar’s sloppy defending when Yoel Barcenas’ long pass into the area escaped the defense and found Blackburn, who prodded home for 2-2.
At the 61st minute, Barcenas appeared to have lost Panama a point when he conceded a penalty, which Hassan Al Haydos dutifully converted to make it 3-2.
However, Qatar’s defense became vulnerable again late in the game, when Abdiel Ayarza was pushed over by Abdelkarim Hassan in the 74th minute, Eric Davis stepped up to equalize the score at 3-3. In the last minutes of stoppage time, Qatar almost stole victory when Mohammed Muntari broke free of the defense, but Harold Cummings makes a desperate cover tackle to clear the threat.
