Salem Al Dawsari's second half penalty was the difference at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium as Saudi Arabia sealed the top spot in Group B of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar with a 1-0 victory against Australia on Tuesday. The Green Falcons had already booked their place in Qatar 2022 with two games to spare, before being held to a 1-1 draw against China last week, while Australia were confirmed to finish third and advance to the playoff regardless of the result. The first chance of the game belonged to the visitors after 12 minutes as Saudi-based Martin Boyle advanced down the right and sent a low cross for Awer Mabil, who beat his marker and connected with the ball, but his finish just about missed the target. Trent Sainsbuty came close to opening the scoring for the Socceroos after he rose highest to head Ajdin Hrustic's cross from a set-piece down the left, but the centre-back's header ended up on the roof of the net. It took 35 minutes for the home side to threaten as Hattan Bahebri drove forward down the middle and launched an effort from 25 yards out, but goalkeeper Mat Ryan was up to the challenge and made the save. A minute later, it was Graham Arnold's men who thought they had taken the lead after Awer Mabil sent a fine through ball for Boyle and the Al Faisaly forward looked to have beaten the offside trap from the halfway line before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home the opener, but upon a lengthy VAR check, Boyle was ruled offside and the goal did not stand. The hosts started the second half on the front foot, and within eight minutes of the restart they were close again as Yasser Al Shahrani advanced into the byline and floated a cross for Mohammed Kanno, who arrived late to the box and tried to guide a looping header beyond Ryan, but could not aim accurately. Mabil responded in kind for Australia, testing goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais from range, but the Saudi goalkeeper produced a fine save to tip it behind. The deadlock was finally broken in the 65th minute after Sami Al Najei was brought down by James Jeggo inside the Australian penalty area and Al Dawsari stepped up to convert from the spot, sending Ryan the wrong way. Al Dawsari nearly doubled his tally 12 minutes from time after he received Abdulaziz Al Bishi's pass inside the box and tried his best finish, but Ryan produced a world class save to deny him from close range. — SG
