The Saudi national team eliminated its Iraqi counterpart (the defending champion) from the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup Football Championship, currently being held in Kuwait, after defeating them 3-1, yesterday, in the closing round of the second group.
The Saudi Greens grabbed the second qualification card from the group, and will meet their Omani counterpart next Tuesday in the semi-finals, while the Bahraini team remained in the lead despite losing to Yemen 1-2, and will face Kuwait on the same day.
The first half saw only one chance for Saudi Arabia, when Musab Al-Jawir was alone on goal, but he shot into the net from outside the field.
The picture changed in the second half, in which Saudi Arabia received a penalty kick approved by the “mouse” video technology, after the ball touched one of the Iraqi national team’s defenders, and Salem Al-Dosari kicked it, and he successfully executed it into the goal (57).
Muhannad Ali succeeded in returning the “Lions of Mesopotamia” to the match by equalizing, taking advantage of a lapse by defender Ali Al-Bulaihi, and shot a ground ball to the right of the goalkeeper (64), but “Al-Akhdar” was able to return to the lead again thanks to his player Abdullah Al-Hamdan, who received a ball from Sultan. Al-Ghanam inside the box, and put it in a difficult place in the goal (81).
The same player returned to widen the gap in favor of Saudi Arabia by scoring the third goal after a pass from Salem Al-Dosari, which he placed in the left corner (86).
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