JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait advanced to the semifinals of the 20th Gulf Cup tournament in contrasting styles in Yemen Sunday. While Saudi Arabia was held to a 1-1 draw by Qatar in Aden, Kuwait thrashed Yemen 3-0 in Abyan. Kuwait advanced as the group leader followed by Saudi Arabia. Qatar and Yemen are now out of the competition. Monday Bahrain will play the UAE and Iraq will meet Oman to decide which two teams progress to the semifinals from their group. Substitute defender Ibrahim Al-Ghanim put Qatar in the lead six minutes before time. His teammate defender Hamid Shami scored an own goal in the last minute to hand Saudi Arabia a draw. Qatari midfielder Hussein Yasser gave the Greens a scare in the 10th minute when he rushed to kick Anas Mubarak's kick but Saudi keeper Assaf Al-Qarni did well to stop the ball outside the box. Saudi players managed to take the ball to the Qatari area on countless occasions but failed to finish every time. Qatari coach French Bruno Metsu, desperate for a favorable result, made a couple of changes after the break, but to no avail. The pace of the game changed after Saudi Coach Jose Peseiro brought in skipper Mohammed Al-Shalhoub and Mohanned Aseeri in the 55th minute, but they also failed to put the ball in the rival team's net. Al-Qarni was busy again in the 64th minute when he denied Qatari midfielder Mubarak. Seven minutes later, Ahmed Abbas of Saudi Arabia was face to face with the Qatari keeper but slipped to lose the possession. Minutes later Saudi midfielder Abdul Aziz Al-Dousari took a shy at the goal from 10 yards but his kick went high. Al-Ghanim scored the first goal of the evening in the 84th minute when he headed Qatari midfielder Fabio Cesar's kick into the right corner of Al-Qarni. The Qataris drew back and started banking on short passes to kill time. Peseiro brought in Saleh Basheer for Abbas. A minute before time, Qatari defender Shami, trying to clear the ball, put it into his own net. The Qatari players tried their best to score a winner in the injury time, but it never came.
