Palestine have qualified for the knock-out stages of the Asian Cup for the first time and may face Australia in the last 16.
The teams met in November in World Cup qualifying with Graham Arnold's men winning 1-0 in Kuwait, Palestine's own venues being ruled out due to the conflict in Gaza.
Australia will meet one of the four best third-placed teams. Given the permutations their opponent will not be confirmed until later in the week but Palestine are the most likely with Indonesia or, improbably, Japan, also possibilities.
Palestine sealed qualification with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong, Belgium-based Oday Dabbagh scoring twice and Zeid Qunbar once.
As 90 minutes approached they were on course for second place in Group C and a last-16 tie with debutants Tajikistan as, across Doha at the Education City Stadium, United Arab Emirates (UAE) were 2-0 down to Iran. Mehdi Taremi had scored both.
However, a third Iran goal was then chalked off for what appeared an innocuous collision in the build-up, then UAE pulled a goal back. Yahya Al-Ghassani, who had earlier missed a penalty, scored. That put them back into second and Palestine third.
The last 16 is now taking shape with eight teams qualified. Two fixtures are confirmed.Tajikistan v UAE in Australia's half of the draw, and Iran v Syria in the other. Iraq have also made it into Australia's section while Qatar and Uzbekistan are in the other.
Wednesday's fixtures, Japan v Indonesia and Iraq v Vietnam, will determine which half of the draw pre-tournament favourites Japan end up in. With head-to-head results determining positions Japan (three points), having lost to Iraq (six points), cannot top the group.
A win or draw will mean second place as Japan's goal difference is superior to Indonesia (three points), keeping them apart from Australia until the final, were both teams to get that far. An upset Indonesian win would mean an anxious wait for the Japanese for Friday's results of Bahrain (who play Jordan) and Oman (who meet Kyrgyzstan).
