Uzbekistan’s 2-1 defeat of Kuwait earlier that day initially seemed to suggest that with six points from two matches the Central Asians were home and dry while the Arab side’s hopes of a West Asian, Gulf and Asian treble had ended.

However, Yusef Ahmed’s sublime double against the Chinese not only thrust Qatar, who lost 2-0 to the Uzbeks in their Group A curtain-raiser, back in to contention, it also handed Kuwait a tournament lifeline.

It’s a complicated scenario going into the final round of matches on January 16 when Qatar play Kuwait and Uzbekistan take on China with the possible outcomes as follows.

1 – Uzbekistan win or draw, Qatar win

Uzbekistan and Qatar qualify

2 – Uzbekistan and China draw, Qatar draw

Uzbekistan advance and Qatar and China finish with four points. Qatar qualifies courtesy of a better head-to-head record against China.

3 – Uzbekistan win, Kuwait win

Uzbekistan advance while the second qualifiers will be determined by goal difference with China, Qatar and Kuwait all finishing with three points.

4 – China win, Qatar win

China, Uzbekistan, Qatar all finish with six points and the two quarter-final qualifiers will be determined by goal difference.

5 – China win, Qatar draw or lose

China and Uzbekistan qualify.

Overall goal difference will be taken in consideration in case of equal goal difference between the teams concerned.