Al Duhail finished fifth in the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020 after an impressive 3-1 win over 2020 AFC Champions League winners Ulsan Hyundai FC of South Korea at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium of Al Rayyan Sports Club on Sunday.

Al Duhail produced three outstanding goals, the first of which came after 21 minutes when Paulo Edmilson Junior advanced unchallenged from midfield and guided an inch-perfect low shot into the bottom-right corner.

An impressive first-half display should have yielded Al Duhail another goal or two.

Ulsan, though, were much improved after the break and claimed a deserved equaliser just after the hour-mark when Yoon Bit-Garam scrambled home after some fine build-up play.

But parity lasted for just four minutes, as Al Duhail quickly reclaimed the lead with another outstanding goal. Dudu’s scooped pass was volleyed home first-time by Mohammed Muntari.

And victory was secured eight minutes from time – again, with a goal of the highest quality – as Almoez Ali wriggled in from the right before burying a powerful right-foot shot beyond the helpless Jo Hyeon-Woo.

The top clubs from five of football’s six continental confederations joined host nation’s representative Al Duhail in the tournament, held at two FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 venues, Education City Stadium being the other.

This is the second time that Qatar is hosting the tournament, after 2019. It was scheduled to start on 1st February when Al Duhail were to play Oceania representative Auckland City FC, but the latter withdrew from the competition because of Covid-19 quarantine measures required by authorities in New Zealand. As a result, The Red Knights received a walkover into the second round with a 3-0 verdict.

However, Al Duhail lost 0-1 to Egypt’s Al Ahly and Ulsan fell 1-2 to Mexico’s Tigres UANL on 4th February.

South American champions Palmeiras of Brazil and European champions Bayern Munich of Germany are the other participating clubs.

Bayern and Al Ahly will face off in the second semifinal on Monday, 8th February. The final is scheduled for Thursday, 11th February.