Jordan dumped three-times champion Saudi Arabia out of the Asian Cup on Thursday with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a goalkeeping howler by Waleed Abdullah.
It has been a traumatic few days for Saudi Arabia, whose quest for a first Asian Cup since 1996 got off to a disastrous start when it was beaten 2-1 by outsider Syria, in its opening game on Sunday.
The regional giant became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, while surprise-package Jordan is left sitting pretty at the top of Group B with four points, with one more game to go.
Missed chance
Saudi Arabia should have been ahead within a minute of the post-Peseiro era, but defender Osama Al Harbi completely missed his header right in front of goal.
Lucky goal
But three minutes before half-time Jordan got the goal against the run of play. Baha Abdelrahman was left unchallenged and given all the time in the world to loft over a cross that inadvertently curled into the net. It was a moment of horror for keeper Waleed, who totally misjudged the flight of the ball.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, two first-half goals from striker Yusef Ahmed sent Qatar on its way to a 2-0 win over China as the host nation finally joined its own Asian Cup party and began dreaming of a place in the quarterfinals.
Superb strike
Qatar took the lead after 27 minutes of its second Group A game when Ahmed scored the goal of the tournament so far at the Khalifa Stadium.
Collecting a lofted forward pass on his thigh, he smashed a swerving unstoppable volley into the roof of goalkeeper Zeng Cheng's net from the edge of the penalty area to send the crowd into raptures.
Ahmed made it 2-0 on the stroke of halftime when China's imposing captain Du Wei allowed him too much time to turn, shoot and, to his horror, score with a low hooked shot from almost the same place as his first goal.
The victory moved Qatar level with China on three points. Uzbekistan leads with six points while Kuwait is at the bottom with none.
The results: Jordan 1 (Abdelrahman 42) bt Saudi Arabia 0; Qatar 2 (Ahmed 27, 45) bt China 0.
