1 in a friendly match at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on Saturday. Abdo Atif put the Saudis ahead in the first half before Ibrahim Majed made it 1-1 after the break. Faisal Al-Sultan sealed the win for the Saudis to ensure his side's preparations for the final round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which kick off on Sept. 6, remain on track. Saudi Arabia's coach Nasser Al-Johar came to the match with a number of injuries in his squad, striker Malek Al-Hawsawi being the most prominent among them. Al-Johar's men kept the ball among themselves early in the match and launched several attempts though none could be converted. His tactics restricted the Qatari side to counter-attacks alone. Saudi striker Saad Al-Harthi created the first real threat 25 minutes into the match when he blasted Abdo Atif's pass and missed the right post of Qatari goalkeeper Abdul Aziz Ali by inches. Ten minutes later Atif ran inside the box before shooting the ball into the right corner of Qatari goal but Abdul Aziz denied the attempt. It was only in the 45th minute that Atif succeeded in breaking the deadlock through a left-foot kick from outside the box to the far left of the Qatari keeper. Qatar dominated the proceedings for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Ibrahim Majed drew level the game in the 68th minute when he fired a 25-yard shot to the left of Saudi goalkeeper Mansour Al-Najai. The equalizer woke the Saudi players who began creating chances through Saad Al-Harthi and Abdullah Shuhail. Faisal Al-Sultan sealed the win for the Saudis in the 73rd minute when he kicked Shuhail's cross into the Qatari net. Qatar's Sebastian Soria almost scored the equalizer nine minutes from time when Al-Najai just managed to deny his header. Saudi Arabia is drawn in Asia World Cup Qualifying Group B alongside Iran, South Korea, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Qatar is in Group A with Australia, Japan, Uzbekistan and Bahrain. The Kingdom kicks off its Cup qualifiers against Iran in Riyadh while Qatar plays Uzbekistan in Doha next week. __
