Holders Qatar scrape past Palestine to reach Asian Cup last eight

Defending champions Qatar survived a scare to beat Palestine 2-1 and advance to the Asian Cup quarterfinals thanks to goals from Hassan Al-Haydos and Akram Afif at Al Bayt Stadium on Monday.

Qatar notched up their 11th straight victory in the Asian Cup and will return to Al Bayt for their quarter-final where Marquez Lopez's side will play the winners of Tuesday's last-16 tie between Uzbekistan and Thailand.

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Although they conceded the first goal against the run of play, Qatar were composed and clinical when they created their best chances to punish Palestine, who were making their debut in the Asian Cup knockouts.

A moment's silence for victims of the Israel-Hamas conflict was held before the game, with a handful of fans screaming "Free Palestine."

Once the referee's whistle blew the crowd focused on watching both teams get straight down to business.

Despite Qatar starting as firm favourites on home turf in front of nearly 64,000 fans, it was an industrious Palestine side who looked more promising in attack in the first half and they were rewarded for their perseverance in the 37th minute.

Photo by Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images

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Palestine stole the ball off Qatar high up the pitch before Oday Dabbagh embarked on a solo run and shot past keeper Meshaal Barsham into the bottom corner for his third goal of the tournament and the country's first ever in the knockout stage.

Although Qatar fell behind the goal was still warmly applauded by the home fans as Palestine's players sank to their knees as one near the corner flag.

"It was a game against Palestine and it was emotional. With all my respect I understand our fans [cheering for Palestine]," Lopez told reporters.

"This is football, you can plan for something and it doesn't always go to plan. Palestine's players played very well, they were brave.

"The most important thing is we qualified (for the next round) and we have to retain our positivity for the future."

Qatar skipper Al-Haydos equalised with the last kick of the half when he latched onto Afif's low cross from a corner and fired it home through two defenders and keeper Rami Hamadeh.

Qatar then took the lead minutes after the break when Almoez Ali was brought down by a late sliding tackle from Mohammed Saleh and Afif stepped up to score his fourth goal in as many games at the tournament.

Palestine had a few chances to equalise but lacked the finishing touch and did not really testkeeper Meshaal Barshamagain as Qatar held on to advance.

"My players gave all that they have despite the difficult circumstances. I cannot ask them to do more than what they've done," Palestine coach Makram Daboub said.

"I'm very proud of my champions. They have big ambition and they're proud to represent the Palestinian people.

"The Palestinian people are very passionate. We wanted to make them happy but we're sorry we couldn't. We hope to be better in our next games and compensate for today's loss."