Qatar, who finished the game with only 10 men, took a 1-0 lead through Ali Naser's 10th minute goal, but Malek Maaz levelled the scores for the Saudis in the 73rd to claim a share of the points.

The draw sees Saudi Arabia move up to joint-first in Group B, alongside Iraq who were also held to a 1-1 draw in a meeting with Bahrain earlier on Sunday.

"The match was a tough one," said Saudi Arabia coach Marcos Paqueta. "The performance of our team was slow at the start and the players were nearly lost after we conceded a goal in the first 10 minutes.

"However, we found our balance and scored the equaliser. I'm not satisfied with performance of the players but I'm satisfied with the result," said the Brazilian coach who was appointed before last year's World Cup in place of Argentinian Gabriel Calderon.

"We have created a lot of chances and everybody noticed that but we couldn't score. We haven't qualified yet as we'll have to face Iraq in order to qualify to the semis."

Qatar boss Dzemaludin Musovic said: "Looking at the score I'm satisfied.

"However, I cannot be pleased with the change of performance of the players."

The Bosnian continued: "We started very well and scored early in the game. However, our team is still young and the age average is 22 years old in the team. The team lack the necessary international experience. The tournament is a good experience for the team and it's a preparation for the Asian Cup."

Saudi Arabia were the better side in the first half and they should have opened the scores after nine minutes but Mohamed Al Shahlhoub's close-range effort was brilliantly saved by Qatar goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr.

The miss proved costly as moments later Qatar drew first blood from a set-piece.

Naser found the net with a free-kick which flew past Saudi goalkeeper Mohamad Khoja.

Despite their dominance in the remaining minutes of the first half, Saudi Arabia could not create any dangerous chances and instead it was Qatar who nearly doubled their lead 10 minutes before the break when Wesam Rizk was narrowly off-target with another free-kick.

In the 56th minute, Yasser Al Qahtani nearly levelled the scores for the Saudis after Abdo Oteif made his way into the area before sending in a low cross but Al Qahtani's follow-up was saved by Saqr.

Just five minutes later, the Saudis missed another chance to pull level and this time it was by Maaz who received a neat pass from Al Qahtani but managed to miss the target with only the goalkeeper to beat.

The equaliser eventually arrived in the 73rd minute after a quick counter-attack from Maaz who rounded three Qatar defenders before slotting the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

There was more bad news for Qatar two minutes later when they were reduced to 10 men.

Ibrahim Al Ghanem was guilty of a cynical challenge on Yasser Al Qahtani and Malaysian referee Mohammed Subkiddin had no hesitation in producing the red card.

Ten minutes from time, Saudi Arabia went close to a winner when Oteif cut in from the right but he sent his shot narrowly over.

However, they failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage as Qatar held on for a draw.