JEDDAH: The lineup for the semifinals has been completed after Saudi Arabia and Qatar got the better of UAE and Yemen respectively in the last Group B matches of the 19th Arabian Gulf Cup Soccer Tournament at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex before the boisterous crowd yesterday.

It was a night to remember for the Saudis, who performed to their real potential that their fans missed during the earlier matches, crushing arch rivals UAE 3-0.

In the semifinals to be played on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia, who topped their group will take on Kuwait, who finished second in Group-A while Qatar, second in Group B will clash with hosts Oman, who finished on top in Group A.

In the second semifinal, Qatar will face a tough match against hosts Oman. The road to the semifinals was not as easy for Qatar as it seemed before the match. Fans speculated that Qatar will have smooth ride in their match against Oman, and had bet about scoring at least three goals against Yemen. But all of their expectations went haywire as Qatar barely made it with a 2-1 victory during injury time. Qatar came back from a drop zone in dying moments after both teams finished 1-1 in regular time.

Qatar got the upper hand scoring first in the 13th minute of the first half. Musa Haroon struck for his side after receiving a free pass from outside the penalty box. But their joy was short-lived as Yemen equalized in the 30th minute following a penalty converted by Ali Al-Nunu.

Qatar intensified their pressure knowing that the result will mean accompanying Yemen out of the competition.

Yemen proved to be a tough opponent though the match was of no consequence to them as they were already out of the competition losing 5-0 in their second match against Asian giants Saudi Arabia. Just when it seemed that the match was going to end in a draw, which would enable UAE to qualify despite their loss to Saudi Arabia, Qatar got the matchwinner during the 7th minute of injury time following a free-kick taken by Majid Siddiqe.

In the other match, UAE started on an aggressive note and an edge over their rivals in the first half with their defense keeping a tight leash on star Saudi Arabian strikers Yaser Al-Qahtani and Malek Muaz.

However, Qahtani gave Saudi the lead against the run of play in the 58th minute when he dribbled past the rival keeper and found the back of the net after he received a through pass inside the penalty box.

Spurred by this success the Saudis went into the attack and almost scored after a couple of minutes had it not been for the referee who obstructed a goal-bound ball.

Abdullah Al-Zuri doubled the score for Saudis ten minutes before time when he picked on a loose ball, dribbled past a defender and made no mistake from close.

This took the fight off the UAE team and their defense crumbled. Al-Qahtani made the issue safe three minutes later when he received a pass that beat the rival defense and came face-to-face with the rival keeper. Showing presence of mind, Al-Qahtani passed the ball to unmarked Ahmad Al-Fareedi who had no difficulty placing the ball into an empty goal.