Al-Abyad neglected an important victory and accepted a disappointing draw with Iraq

Defense and referee mistakes deprive the team of the first victory

The team once again paid the price for defensive mistakes.

Photography: Osama Abu Ghanem

Yesterday, the national team missed its first victory in the final stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, after accepting a disappointing draw against its guest, Iraq, 2-2, in the fourth round of Group A.

The match witnessed great excitement, as the most important event took place in the last minutes, as Iraq tied and then advanced, before equalizing the score by Ali Mabkhout in the 93rd minute, but the most prominent shot was the strange decision of the referee of the arena, the Japanese Ryuji Sato, who denied the team the winning goal in the match. The 95th minute, in which Bandar Al-Ahbabi's shot crossed the Iraqi goal line, as it appeared on the television replay, but the referee decided to end the match, amid a protest from the team's players.

Al-Abyad again paid the price for the defensive mistakes, which came from the equalizer for Iraq, after a goal by Muhammad Al-Attas, who almost lost the match because of them.

With this result, the team lost third place in favor of Lebanon, which defeated Syria 3-2, and Iran maintained the lead with 10 points, eight points for the second South Korea, three points for the fifth Iraq, and sixth and finally Syria with one point.

The team played the Iraq match with the same squad that it played against Iran, with the exception of a single substitution, when Dutch coach Marvik paid the Caio wing at the expense of Khalil Ibrahim.

Al-Abyad started the confrontation with a clear offensive activity, with him Abdullah Ramadan almost scored the first goal early, but he preferred to pass the cross instead of shooting on the goal, for the ball hit one of the defenders and missed an opportunity.

The team's efforts continued against Fahd Rahim, when Lima pressed and extracted the ball in front of Ali Fayez, penetrated it into the box, and shot at the feet of defender Ahmed Ibrahim, turning the ball into a corner without being used.

Ali Mabkhout took advantage of a quick counter-attack to fall into the box, amid the demand for a penalty kick, but the referee of the arena, the Japanese Ryuji Sato, and the video technology (mouse), confirmed that the attacker was not obstructed by the Iraqi defender.

The performance of the national team declined in the middle of this half, after the Iraqi team showed a clear offensive intention in some periods, but it passed safely on goalkeeper Ali Khaseef.

The most dangerous opportunity for the visiting team came from a ball that Sherif Abdel-Kazim managed to hit the Al-Abyad defense, so that Alaa Abdel-Zahra was unique in the goal, but he shot next to the left post.

But the response of the UAE team was harsh, when Caio managed to score the first goal (33) of an organized attack that started from Majid Hassan, to end the game with a shot at the top of the goal, and the attempts of the Iraqi goalkeeper were unsuccessful.

The first minutes of the second half witnessed great pressure from Iraq, which sought hard to equalise, which came to it, when Al-Abyad paid the price of Ali Mabkhout’s waste of easy opportunities, to receive the opposite goal scored by Al-Attas by mistake in his own goal, when he tried to remove a longitudinal ball sent by Ibrahim Bayesh into the box To put it to the right of the goalkeeper in the 74th minute.

Iraq excelled physically in the remaining minutes, and was able to add the second goal through substitute Ayman Hussein from a mistake in the heart of the defense, as he received Alaa Mahawi's pass and shot to the right of the goalkeeper without any harassment in the 88th minute.

But Ali Mabkhout returned the team to the match by scoring the equalizer, after he dribbled a defender and scored in the 93rd minute, and the 95th minute witnessed great excitement, after a shot by Al-Ahbabi crossed the Iraq goal line, but the referee, despite waiting for the television replay that showed the ball was over, decided to end the match. in a draw.

Ranking of the first group

1- Iran 10 points.

2- South Korea 8.

3- Lebanon 5.

4- Emirates 3.

5- Iraq 3.

6- Syria (1 point).

Iran maintains the lead..Lebanon surprises Syria

Iran maintained the top spot in Group A with 10 points from the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, after imposing a 1-1 draw, yesterday, against its guest, South Korea (eight points), and Heung Min Son advanced with a goal for South Korea in the 49th minute, but Alireza Jahanbakhsh equalized for Iran 14 minutes before the end.

On the other hand, the biggest surprise was the return of Lebanon with a precious victory over its Syrian counterpart, 3-2, as Muhammad Kdouh (dual) scored for him, Sonny Saad (goal), and Syria's Omar Khribin and Omar Al Somah scored.

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