2019 AFC Asian Cup Group E

Group E of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup took place from 8 to 17 January 2019. ^[1] The group consisted of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and North Korea. ^[2] The top two teams, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, advanced to the round of 16. ^[3] However, third-placed Lebanon missed out qualification to the knockout stage by fair play points to Vietnam.

Saudi Arabia were the only former champions in the group, having won three Asian Cup titles in 1984, 1988 and 1996.

Teams

Draw position	Team	Zone	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA Rankings
								April 2018 [nb 1]	December 2018
E1	Saudi Arabia	WAFF	Second round group A winners	24 March 2016	10th	2015 (group stage)	Winners (1984, 1988, 1996)	70	69
E2	Qatar	WAFF	Second round group C winners	17 November 2015	10th	2015 (group stage)	Quarter-finals (2000, 2011)	101	93
E3	Lebanon	WAFF	Third Round Group B winners	10 November 2017	2nd	2000 (group stage)	Group stage (2000)	82	81
E4	North Korea	EAFF	Third Round Group B runners-up	27 March 2018	5th	2015 (group stage)	Fourth place (1980)	112	109

Notes

1. The rankings of April 2018 were used for seeding for the final draw.

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
3	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	North Korea	3	0	0	3	1	14	−13	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

In the round of 16:

• The winners of Group E, Qatar, advanced to play the runners-up of Group D, Iraq.
• The runners-up of Group E, Saudi Arabia, advanced to play the winners of Group F, Japan.

Matches

All times listed are GST (UTC+4).

Saudi Arabia vs North Korea

The first chance of the game came in the 13th minute through Abdulaziz Al-Bishi’s left-footed strike which just missed the target. In the 28th minute, Hattan Bahebri dribbled past Ri Il-jin and sent a curler from the left to give Saudi Arabia the lead. Housain Al-Mogahwi’s free kick from just outside the box sailed into the box and Mohammed Al-Fatil diverted it into the net with a back-heel to double Saudi Arabia’s advantage. Just a minute before the break, Han Kwang-song received a second yellow card for a tackle on Al-Mogahwi. North Korea were reduced to 10 men but they came close to scoring in the 64th minute through captain Jong Il-gwan. However, the Saudi defenders regrouped to deny him. Moments later, Saudi Arabia had a missed opportunity, when Fahad Al-Muwallad side-stepped defender Kim Chol-bom and goalkeeper Ri Myong-guk but his shot flew wide. In the 70th minute, Salem Al-Dawsari was left unmarked and the Saudi captain made no mistake from the centre of the box to make it 3–0. In the 87th minute, defender Kim Song-gi failed to clear Hamdan Al-Shamrani’s cross into the box and Al-Muwallad slammed the ball into the back of the net to seal Saudi Arabia’s first opening AFC Asian Cup match win since they emerged champions in 1996. ^[4]

8 January 2019 (2019-01-08)

20:00

Saudi Arabia	4–0	North Korea
Bahebri 28' Al-Fatil 37' Al-Dawsari 70' Al-Muwallad 87'	Report

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 5,075

Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

Saudi Arabia

North Korea

GK 21 Mohammed Al-Owais RB 2 Mohammed Al-Breik CB 4 Ali Al-Bulaihi CB 23 Mohammed Al-Fatil LB 13 Yasser Al-Shahrani  82' DM 14 Abdullah Otayf CM 16 Housain Al-Mogahwi CM 20 Abdulaziz Al-Bishi  71' RW 11 Hattan Bahebri  78' LW 10 Salem Al-Dawsari (c)  45+1' CF 19 Fahad Al-Muwallad Substitutions: MF 18 Abdulrahman Ghareeb  71' FW 9 Mohammed Al-Saiari  78' DF 12 Hamdan Al-Shamrani  82' Manager: Juan Antonio Pizzi

GK 1 Ri Myong-guk RB 5 An Song-il  46' CB 4 Kim Song-gi CB 16 Ri Yong-jik  90+1' LB 3 Jang Kuk-chol  56' RM 23 Ri Il-jin  53' CM 15 Ri Un-chol LM 2 Kim Chol-bom  32' AM 7 Han Kwang-song  36'  44' AM 11 Jong Il-gwan (c)  90' CF 10 Pak Kwang-ryong Substitutions: MF 12 Kim Kyong-hun  46' DF 17 Ri Chang-ho  56' FW 19 Rim Kwang-hyok  90+1' Manager: Kim Yong-jun

Man of the Match: Salem Al-Dawsari (Saudi Arabia) Assistant referees: Matthew Cream (Australia) Anton Shchetinin (Australia) Fourth official: Sergei Grishchenko (Kyrgyzstan) Additional assistant referees: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan) Chris Beath (Australia)

Qatar vs Lebanon

Lebanon's Felix Michel Melki vies for the ball with Qatari forward Akram Afif.

In the 37th minute, Ali Hamam raced off to celebrate with his teammates after slotting Hassan Maatouk's corner into the Qatari goal, only for the referee to controversially blow the whistle for a foul on Tarek Salman. Maatouk pulled the trigger on an effort of his own just before half-time, but his scissor kick flew high over the bar. Two minutes after the hour mark, 2018 AFC Player of the Year Abdelkarim Hassan was introduced from the bench for Abdulkarim Al-Ali and within three minutes, the Qataris took the lead from Bassam Al-Rawi's strike from a free kick. The defender sent a dipping, curling right-footed effort over the wall and beyond the outstretched hand of Mehdi Khalil. Qatar added a second with 11 minutes remaining. Hassan's driving run created space for Akram Afif and, when the winger received the ball, his centre found Abdulaziz Hatem, whose shot was saved by Khalil. But Almoez Ali was on hand to roll the ball into the empty net to ensure a winning start to the campaign for Qatar. ^[5]

9 January 2019 (2019-01-09)

20:00

Qatar	2–0	Lebanon
Al-Rawi 65' Ali 79'	Report

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 7,847

Referee: Ma Ning (China PR)

Qatar

Lebanon

GK 1 Saad Al-Sheeb CB 2 Ró-Ró CB 4 Tarek Salman CB 15 Bassam Al-Rawi RM 23 Assim Madibo CM 16 Boualem Khoukhi CM 12 Karim Boudiaf  56' LM 18 Abdulkarim Al-Ali  62' RF 10 Hassan Al-Haydos (c)  85' CF 19 Almoez Ali LF 11 Akram Afif Substitutions: MF 6 Abdulaziz Hatem  56' DF 3 Abdelkarim Hassan  62' FW 7 Ahmed Alaaeldin  85' Manager: Félix Sánchez

GK 1 Mehdi Khalil RB 11 Alexander Michel Melki  24'  72' CB 3 Mootaz Jounaidi  84' CB 6 Joan Oumari LB 13 Felix Michel Melki  77' DM 15 Haytham Faour RM 19 Ali Hamam LM 18 Walid Ismail AM 22 Bassel Jradi CF 9 Hilal El-Helwe CF 7 Hassan Maatouk (c)  64' Substitutions: MF 14 Nader Matar  72' MF 5 Samir Ayass  77' MF 10 Mohamad Haidar  84' Manager: Miodrag Radulović

Man of the Match: Assim Madibo (Qatar) Assistant referees: Huo Weiming (China PR) Cao Yi (China PR) Fourth official: Ronnie Koh Min Kiat (Singapore) Additional assistant referees: Fu Ming (China PR) Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)

Lebanon vs Saudi Arabia

Lebanon fans during the match against Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia found their breakthrough in the 12th minute when they latched onto a defensive mistake. Lebanon’s Joan Oumari’s back pass deflected off teammate Alexander Michel Melki’s left boot. The ball landed near Saudi Arabia’s Fahad Al-Muwallad, who half-volleyed home from close range. Oumari failed to keep his header down in the 16th minute, while Felix Michel Melki just missed Hassan Maatouk’s free kick eight minutes later. After the break, Hattan Bahebri took a chance from almost 30 yards out which forced a save from goalkeeper Mehdi Khalil. Bahebri made an assist in the 67th minute, when his cross into the box found Housain Al-Mogahwi, who made it 2–0. ^[6] This win earned Saudi Arabia a ticket to the round of sixteen for the first time since the 2007 edition, in which Saudi Arabia finished runners-up.

12 January 2019 (2019-01-12)

20:00

Lebanon	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Muwallad 12' Al-Mogahwi 67'

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 13,792

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

Lebanon

Saudi Arabia

GK 1 Mehdi Khalil RB 11 Alexander Michel Melki CB 2 Kassem El Zein CB 3 Mootaz Jounaidi CB 6 Joan Oumari LB 13 Felix Michel Melki  70' DM 15 Haytham Faour  73' RM 19 Ali Hamam LM 7 Hassan Maatouk (c)  76' AM 10 Mohamad Haidar  82'  86' CF 9 Hilal El-Helwe  89' Substitutions: FW 20 Rabih Ataya  73' MF 14 Nader Matar  76' DF 17 Mohamed Zein Tahan  86' Manager: Miodrag Radulović

GK 21 Mohammed Al-Owais RB 2 Mohammed Al-Breik CB 23 Mohammed Al-Fatil CB 4 Ali Al-Bulaihi LB 12 Hamdan Al-Shamrani DM 14 Abdullah Otayf  84' CM 20 Abdulaziz Al-Bishi  41'  79' CM 16 Housain Al-Mogahwi RW 11 Hattan Bahebri LW 10 Salem Al-Dawsari (c)  90+2' CF 19 Fahad Al-Muwallad  73' Substitutions: MF 8 Yahya Al-Shehri  73' MF 18 Abdulrahman Ghareeb  79' MF 15 Ibrahim Ghaleb  84' Manager: Juan Antonio Pizzi

Man of the Match: Hattan Bahebri (Saudi Arabia) Assistant referees: [7] Abu Bakar Al-Amri (Oman) Rashid Al-Ghaithi (Oman) Fourth official: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) Additional assistant referees: Mohanad Qassim (Iraq) Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)

North Korea vs Qatar

Qatar were in front in the ninth minute when Akram Afif glided past Sim Hyon-jin before delivering a low cross to Almoez Ali, who struck past Ri Myong-guk. Qatar doubled their lead two minutes later, when Abdelkarim Hassan’s ball found Hassan Al-Haydos, whose low centre was struck in the goal from close range by Ali. Ri Un-chol tried from outside the area, but his drive narrowly failed to find the top corner. With just two minutes remaining in the first half, Afif lifted the ball high over the advancing Myong-guk and Boualem Khoukhi headed in from close range. Ali completed his hat-trick 10 minutes into the second half with a finish from Afif’s through ball. Five minutes later, Afif led a counter-attack before rolling the ball through to Ali, who smashed his shot across Myong-guk and inside the far post. Ali turned provider in the 68th minute when his pass allowed Hassan to storm through the North Korean defence and slot home Qatar’s sixth. The East Asian side’s misery was compounded in the last minute when Jong Il-gwan was shown a second yellow card. ^[8]

It was North Korea’s heaviest ever defeat at the Asian Cup, surpassing their previous 0–4 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening 2019 Asian Cup match. Qatar’s win enabled them to progress to the knockout stages for the first time since the 2011 edition that they hosted. Controversy rose around the almost empty stadium as very few fans were allowed to enter. ^[9]

13 January 2019 (2019-01-13)

15:00

North Korea	0–6	Qatar
	Report	Ali 9', 11', 55', 60' Khoukhi 43' A. Hassan 68'

Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 452

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

North Korea

Qatar

GK 1 Ri Myong-guk CB 13 Sim Hyon-jin CB 4 Kim Song-gi  77' CB 2 Kim Chol-bom RM 23 Ri Il-jin  17' CM 15 Ri Un-chol  13' LM 12 Kim Kyong-hun RW 9 Kim Yong-il  39'  43' AM 11 Jong Il-gwan (c)  17'  90' LW 19 Rim Kwang-hyok  63' CF 10 Pak Kwang-ryong  54' Substitutions: MF 8 Ri Hyok-chol  43' MF 16 Ri Yong-jik  63' DF 6 Ri Thong-il  77' Manager: Kim Yong-jun

GK 1 Saad Al-Sheeb RB 2 Ró-Ró  74' CB 15 Bassam Al-Rawi CB 4 Tarek Salman LB 3 Abdelkarim Hassan  7'  80' CM 23 Assim Madibo  71' CM 6 Abdulaziz Hatem RW 10 Hassan Al-Haydos (c) AM 16 Boualem Khoukhi LW 11 Akram Afif CF 19 Almoez Ali Substitutions: MF 5 Ahmed Fatehi  71' DF 8 Hamid Ismail  74' MF 20 Ali Afif  80' Manager: Félix Sánchez

Man of the Match: Almoez Ali (Qatar) Assistant referees: [10] Palitha Hemathunga (Sri Lanka) Jakhongir Saidov (Uzbekistan) Fourth official: Matthew Cream (Australia) Additional assistant referees: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan) Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

Saudi Arabia vs Qatar

Mohammed Al-Owais parried away Boualem Khoukhi's drive on 16 minutes in the first genuine threat to either goal. Housain Al-Mogahwi shot over the bar for Saudi Arabia following Yahya Al-Shehri's probing run and cross, before Fahad Al-Muwallad struck an upright with Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb beaten. Hassan Al-Haydos' 42nd minute penalty was saved by Al-Owais. However, minutes later, Abdulaziz Hatem's through ball found Almoez Ali who converted to open the scoring on the stroke of half-time. Within five minutes of the restart Hattan Bahebri forced Al-Sheeb into a save. Bahebri's effort from 15 yards fizzed narrowly over the bar on 73 minutes. Qatar extended their lead with 10 minutes remaining, when Ali leaped to thump home a header from Hatem's corner. It proved to be the final genuine goalmouth action as Qatar held on to seal another three points. ^[11]

The match was dubbed the "Blockade Derby", in reference to the diplomatic disputes between the two nations. ^[12] However, there was no on-field incidents and the match ended in a friendly atmosphere. ^[13]

17 January 2019 (2019-01-17)

20:00

Saudi Arabia	0–2	Qatar
	Report	Ali 45+1', 80'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 16,067

Referee: Kim Dong-jin (South Korea)

Saudi Arabia

Qatar

GK 21 Mohammed Al-Owais RB 2 Mohammed Al-Breik CB 4 Ali Al-Bulaihi  41' CB 23 Mohammed Al-Fatil LB 12 Hamdan Al-Shamrani DM 14 Abdullah Otayf  78' CM 8 Yahya Al-Shehri (c) CM 16 Housain Al-Mogahwi RW 11 Hattan Bahebri LW 19 Fahad Al-Muwallad  75' CF 18 Abdulrahman Ghareeb  61' Substitutions: FW 9 Mohammed Al-Saiari  82'  61' MF 6 Ayman Al-Khulaif  75' MF 7 Nooh Al-Mousa  78' Manager: Juan Antonio Pizzi

GK 1 Saad Al-Sheeb RB 2 Ró-Ró CB 15 Bassam Al-Rawi CB 4 Tarek Salman LB 3 Abdelkarim Hassan CM 6 Abdulaziz Hatem  58' CM 23 Assim Madibo  7'  69' CM 16 Boualem Khoukhi RF 10 Hassan Al-Haydos (c)  73' CF 19 Almoez Ali  45+1'  83' LF 11 Akram Afif Substitutions: MF 14 Salem Al-Hajri  69' MF 12 Karim Boudiaf  73' FW 7 Ahmed Alaaeldin  83' Manager: Félix Sánchez

Man of the Match: Almoez Ali (Qatar) Assistant referees: [14] Yoon Kwang-yeol (South Korea) Park Sang-jun (South Korea) Fourth official: Cao Yi (China PR) Additional assistant referees: Ko Hyung-jin (South Korea) Fu Ming (China PR)

Lebanon vs North Korea

Pak Kwang-ryong converted his free kick in the ninth minute to give North Korea an early advantage. However, Lebanon levelled the score just before the half hour mark when Hassan Maatouk dribbled down the left before laying off for Felix Michel Melki, who smashed the ball into the back of the net. Hilal El-Helwe’s effort was cleared off the line in the 32nd minute. Felix came close to scoring his second in the 57th minute but angled his header across the bar. In the 65th minute, Mohamad Haidar’s cross found El-Helwe who turned to score from close range. North Korea conceded a penalty after Rabih Ataya was brought down in the danger area. Maatouk converted the spot-kick in the 80th minute, sending goalkeeper Ri Myong-guk the wrong way, with a fourth coming in the eighth minute of added time through El-Helwe as Lebanon won their first ever Asian Cup match. However, they were edged by Vietnam in the third-place ranking on fair-play points due to receiving more yellow cards and were eliminated from the tournament. ^[15] This loss extended North Korea's winless streak, with their last win dating back to their fourth place finish in the 1980 edition. ^[16]

17 January 2019 (2019-01-17)

20:00

Lebanon	4–1	North Korea
F. Michel Melki 27' El-Helwe 65', 90+8' Maatouk 80' (pen.)	Report	Pak Kwang-ryong 9'

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 4,332

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

Lebanon

North Korea

GK 1 Mehdi Khalil RB 11 Alexander Michel Melki  30' CB 4 Nour Mansour  81' CB 6 Joan Oumari LB 13 Felix Michel Melki CM 5 Samir Ayass  77' CM 14 Nader Matar  53' RW 7 Hassan Maatouk (c) AM 10 Mohamad Haidar  90+9' LW 18 Walid Ismail CF 9 Hilal El-Helwe Substitutions: FW 20 Rabih Ataya  53' MF 12 Adnan Haidar  77' FW 8 Hassan "Moni" Chaito  81' Manager: Miodrag Radulović

GK 1 Ri Myong-guk CB 5 An Song-il  11' CB 16 Ri Yong-jik CB 3 Jang Kuk-chol (c) RWB 13 Sim Hyon-jin LWB 2 Kim Chol-bom  61'  61' CM 9 Kim Yong-il  85' CM 15 Ri Un-chol CM 12 Kim Kyong-hun  29' CF 7 Han Kwang-song CF 10 Pak Kwang-ryong Substitutions: MF 14 Kang Kuk-chol  29'  75' MF 8 Ri Hyok-chol  72'  61' MF 20 Choe Song-hyok  75' Manager: Kim Yong-jun

Man of the Match: Felix Michel Melki (Lebanon) Assistant referees: [14] Matthew Cream (Australia) Anton Shchetinin (Australia) Fourth official: Ronnie Koh Min Kiat (Singapore) Additional assistant referees: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore) Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)

Discipline

Fair play points were used as tiebreakers if the head-to-head and overall records of teams were tied (and if a penalty shoot-out was not applicable as a tiebreaker). These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows: ^{[3] [17]}

• yellow card = 1 point
• red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points
• direct red card = 3 points
• yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points

Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.

Team	Match 1				Match 2				Match 3				Points
Qatar					1				3				−4
Saudi Arabia	1				2				2				−5
Lebanon	2				3				2				−7
North Korea	3	1			4	1			4				−17

References

1. "Match Schedule – AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
2. "Final Draw sets the stage for thrilling contests in UAE 2019". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
3. "AFC Asian Cup 2019 Competition Regulations" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
4. "Saudi Arabia 4–0 DPR Korea". AFC. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
5. "Qatar 2–0 Lebanon". AFC. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
6. "Lebanon 0–2 Saudi Arabia". AFC. 12 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
7. "MATCH OFFICIALS FOR JANUARY 12". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
8. "DPR Korea 0–6 Qatar". AFC. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
9. Levy, Uri (14 January 2019). "Qatar keep it low and move it fast". The New Arab . Retrieved 20 February 2019.
10. "MATCH OFFICIALS FOR JANUARY 13". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
11. "Saudi Arabia 0–2 Qatar". AFC. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
12. James Masters. "Qatar takes bragging rights in 'blockade derby'". CNN. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
13. "Qatar wins AFC Asian Cup game against Saudi Arabia". Al Arabiya. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
14. "MATCH OFFICIALS FOR JANUARY 17". AFC. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
15. "Lebanon 4–1 DPR Korea". AFC. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
16. "AFC Asian Cup - Saudi Arabia v North Korea -How to watch Online, Live Match Stream, Team News, Kick-off time ,AFC Asian Cup 2019 UAE, Watch Saudi Arabia Online". beIN SPORTS. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
17. "Competition Operations Manual 2019". AFC.

External links

• Official website