Qatar defeated Singapore 2-0 in an international friendly on Thursday, ahead of their Asian Cup qualifying match against Afghanistan next week.

At the Al Duhail Stadium, coach Felix Sanchez fielded a largely experimental side, giving a break to almost all the players from Al Sadd.

Muhammed Muntari, back in the national team after a fine run in the Qatar Stars League for Duhail SC, scored the opening goal in the 32ndminute. Two minutes from half-time, Singapore’s Shahdan Sulaiman netted an own goal to double Qatar’s tally.

Qatar will take on Afghanistan in an away game of the joint Asian Cup 2023/World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign on November 19 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. After four rounds, Qatar head Group E of the qualifiers with 10 points, followed by Oman (9) in second place.

As Qatar competed in the friendly, the other teams in the group played their fourth-round qualifying matches on Thursday. Oman defeated Bangladesh 4-1 in Muscat while Afghanistan held India 1-1 at Dushanbe. Afghanistan (4 points) are third in the group, with India (3) and Bangladesh (1) placed below them.