"Lions of Mesopotamia" quenched the fourth title after decades of thirst
"Gulf 25" chants: "Long live Iraq!"
The Iraqi national team won the 25th Gulf Cup in Basra.
Reuters
Iraqi joy at the moment the final whistle blew.
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The first Iraqi goal ball is on its way to the Omani net.
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Yesterday, the Iraqi national football team was crowned the title of the Gulf Cup (Gulf 25), which was hosted by the Iraqi city of Basra, at the expense of its Omani rival, with a score of 3-2, in the match that was held at the Basra International Stadium, in a match that was held under the eyes of 64 thousand spectators. They celebrated the fourth title for their team in the Gulf competition.
The Iraqi national team played with complete realism, as its players did not rush to attack purely, and they were more patient while possessing the ball, and while trying to open gaps in the Omani defense line, and the enthusiastic performance helped them to hold on more during Oman scoring the equalizer twice.
The Lions of Mesopotamia relied on a balance between defense and attack, and succeeded in controlling the midfield, which helped him impose his dominance clearly during the two halves, but the situation was slightly different during the extra two halves.
The enthusiastic performance overshadowed some of the mistakes that the Lions of Mesopotamia made, as was the speed of the Iraqi players in recovering the ball and turning it into dangerous attacks towards goalkeeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini.
Returning to the match, clear caution prevailed on both sides during the first minutes of the match, as the ball was confined to the middle of the field, without any clear attempts towards the goal of the two teams, in order to avoid any early goals that could cause confusion in the plans set.
With the passage of time, the owners of the land revealed their fangs, and began to rush forward more clearly, amid a clear retreat of the players of the Omani team, who found themselves trapped in their defensive areas, which allowed the Iraqi team to control the course of the match more.
At a time when all eyes were on the Iraqi offensive line to decipher Oman's defensive code, midfielder Ibrahim Baish succeeded in scoring the only goal of the match in the 24th minute, with a wonderful shot from outside the penalty area, as he hit the ball in a resting position, to settle to the right of goalkeeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini.
While the early goal freed the Iraqi players from pressure, especially since the match was under the eyes of 64,000 spectators, on the other hand, it also helped the Omani team to abandon the obvious caution that it was relying on to avoid conceding a goal, which increased the excitement of the match even more.
The owners of the land found themselves required to deal more realistically after scoring the goal, as they returned to balance more to avoid a reaction from the guests, and fought the subsequent minutes with a defensive commitment, with individual attacks, and on the other hand, the “Omani Red” players held together, and launched some attacks, but they did not rise to Severity level.
In front of the continuous pressure from the guests, the Iraqi defense line committed a mistake that awarded the Omani side a penalty kick in the 82nd minute, but goalkeeper Jalal Hassan saved the kick that Jamil Al-Yahmadi executed, to preserve his country’s progress with a single goal, but that did not last long, as the Omani team got On another penalty kick, Salah Al Yahyai scored the equalizing goal in the 10 + 90 minute, to lead the match to overtime.
The extra two halves witnessed dramatic events, as Iraq advanced with the second goal from a penalty kick in the 116th minute by its player Amjad Atwan, but Al-Mundhir Al-Alawi scored the equalizing goal for Oman in the 119th minute, and while the match was on its way to penalty kicks, Manaf Younis scored the winning goal for Iraq from a header. In the minute 2 + 120, to give his country the title.
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