DOHA: Qatar’sunder-23team crashed to 1-0 defeat againstAlgeriain their friendly international at the Al Arabi Stadium last night.

The Qataris missed a plethora of chances throughout the match, often firing blanks from close range and failing to get past the Algerian defence despite enjoying 56% possession.

Kuneish Riyad finally sealed the match late in the second half with an easy strike two yards from the goalline off a fine corner kick to trigger off celebrations in the Algeria camp.

“We should have won the match but unfortunately we missed several chances,” said Qatar coach Fahad Thani.

“We dominated possession but we didn’t benefit from it,” he added.

Last Tuesday, the Qatar Olympic team had played out a 2-2 draw with Ghana in Doha.

Qatar’s senior national team are scheduled to take on Australia in a friendly international on Tuesday.

The Socceroos have already arrived in Doha and will be training at Aspire today as they continue their preparations for the Asian Cup to be hosted by Australia in January.