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Asian champions Qatar fought back from two goals down to hold Paraguay to a 2-2 draw and earn a valuable point in Group B in Copa America 2019.
Wonderkid Almoez Ali and Boualem Khouki struck apiece in the second-half to cancel the deficit after Oscar Cardozo and Derlis Gonzalez were on target for the Albirroja.
With creativity and imagination running dry for large spells of the match, individual moments of brilliance from Gonzalez and Ali lifted it out of the rut before the bizarre fashion of Al-Annabi's equalizer - forced in after Rodrigo Rojas inadvertently nodded the ball into his own net - applied the finishing touches.
Here are three observations from the match:
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#1 Ali Almoez is some serious talent
Qatar's stunning Asia Cup triumph earlier in the year was majorly down to the prolific run of this 18-year-old prodigy, who plonked upon every defense on his way and netted an all-time tournament high of nine goals.
The Maroons were always going to need something special from Ali to harbor any hopes of progressing, and the blinder of a shot that put the guests on their way to restoring parity is exactly what we're talking about.
The Al-Duhail striker was rather underwhelming until the point, devoid of proper service and left to only feed off a couple of half chances. But he was finally able to pull a rabbit out of his hat midway through the second stanza when he produced a moment of pure quality after twisting and turning beyond his markers to let rip a breath-taking curler into the top corner.
Ali's talent came to the fore for only a brief period, but the kind of impression it left on us shows how remarkable the same is.
#2 Substitutes are having a huge influence in this tournament
Call it coincidence or pure luck, but substitutions in most of the games in this competition have had some impact or the other.
Brazil's Everton came off the bench to put the icing on the cake with a thunderbolt against Bolivia in the opener, whereas Roger Martinez and Duvan Zapata compounded Argentina's misery with by netting apiece in the second half after being subbed on at the hour mark.
Now in the fourth match of the competition, the trend continued as Derlis Gonzalez came on after the break to score an absolute belter. Around 30 yards out and nobody around him to challenge for the ball, Gonzalez unleashed a ferocious strike that glided through into the back of the net and doubled Paraguay's cushion.
Regardless of the outcome of these games, this uncanny tendency of substitutes to come off the bench and have a meaningful say has added gloss to the games. No matter how the contest is panning out, we are at least led to believe that there's some drama awaiting towards the dying embers, leaving us on the tenterhooks until then.
#3 Qatar are no pushovers
The unlikely Asia Cup triumph this year has already shown us that this Qatar side is a different kettle of fish than the ones before. Yet, their chances of pulling up trees in the Copa America, a competition admittedly tougher than the Asia Cup, were few and far between.
Having also drawn in the same group as Argentina and Colombia, Al-Annabi were already staring down the barrel. But a hard-fought draw today against Paraguay after trailing by two goals shows they aren't here just to make up the numbers.
With a loss looking increasingly imminent, Qatar weren't cowed down, and instead, showed great heart and character to claw their way back.
They held the ball and made some brilliant passes during the last half hour to turn the tide and throw Paraguay under the cosh. Ali's goal soon followed, before being complimented by Khoukhi's effort which was prodded into the net by Rojas in a desperate attempt to clear the same.
No one gave Qatar a chance after Gonzalez doubled the cushion, but the Asian champions made one, in fact two, themselves and claimed a priceless point to survive another day. And they won't roll over against Argentina and Colombia either, mind you.
