Qatar forward Sebastian Quintana burst Vietnam's bubble with a 79th-minute equaliser, salvaging a precious 1-1 draw with the Asian Cup co-hosts on Thursday. Vietnam were within sight of becoming the first team to reach the quarter-finals after Phan Thanh Binh's fortuitous strike after 32 minutes.
Qatar goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr's attempt to smother Binh's speculative long-range strike went horribly wrong as he let the ball squirm under his body and trickle across the line.
But Uruguay-born Quintana, who scored in Qatar's 1-1 draw with Japan in their opening game, headed home from close range with just over 10 minutes left to throw Group B wide open. Vietnam, who beat United Arab Emirates 2-0 at the weekend, were almost undone when substitute Ali Hassan hit the crossbar five minutes later as Qatar piled on the pressure.
"I think in the end my team were a bit lucky," Vietnam's Austrian coach Alfred Riedl told reporters. "Qatar created a lot of chances in the last 20 minutes and had us in some trouble." The home side still lead Group B with four points. Holders Japan take on UAE on Friday. Qatar coach Dzemaludin Musovic praised his players for refusing to buckle in front of a partisan crowd of 40,000 in Hanoi.
"I'm very happy with the quality we showed and we came away with a valuable point," said the Bosnian, who had a touchline ban for the game overturned after being sent off against Japan. "This result makes the group very interesting. It has suddenly become wide open again." The Asian Cup is being staged jointly by Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand with the final scheduled for Jakarta on July 29.