The Saudi Green achieved a hard-fought victory over its Yemeni counterpart, 3-2, in the match that brought them together, yesterday, for the second round of the Arabian Gulf Cup Championship “Gulf 26”, which is currently being hosted by Kuwait.
The Saudi team maintained its chances of reaching the semi-finals, awaiting its match the day after tomorrow against the Iraqi team (the defending champion), after raising its score to three points, without any points for the Yemeni team.
The Yemeni national team surprised its Saudi counterpart at the beginning of the first half, as Haroun Al-Zubaidi advanced to them after only eight minutes, taking advantage of a cross ball distributed by Abdul-Wasi Al-Matari, to snatch it with his head before Hassan Timbukti and put it into the net.
Al-Akhdar’s defensive mistakes returned when Ali Al-Bulaihi returned a short ball to his goalkeeper, so Abdel Majeed Sabara snatched it and scored the second goal (27).
The Saudi team pressed with all its might until Muhammad Kanu was able to reduce the difference with a goal scored from Musab Al-Jawir’s pass (30), so the first half ended with that result.
Al-Akhdar’s efforts continued in the second half, before he received a penalty kick, after returning to the “mouse” technique, and Musab Al-Jawir was able to translate it into a goal (57).
While the match was on its way to a draw, substitute Abdullah Al-Hamdan was able to score the winning goal for the Saudi team, following up on a ball that fell from the Yemeni goalkeeper, and he completed it into the net (90+3).
The Yemeni players objected to the validity of the decision of the match referee, the Omani Qasim Al-Hatemi, regarding the third goal, which prompted him to show the red card to the player, Rami Al-Wasmani, and followed it with another red card to his colleague Hamza Al-Raimi, before the “mouse” technique intervened, and the referee replaced the red card with a yellow card. For Remy.
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