Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Dammam: Saudi Arabia sealed their passage to Australia for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup after a second-half strike by Nassir Al Shamrani gave them a 2-1 win over Iraq at the Prince Mohammed bin Fahad Stadium on Friday.
Al Shamrani’s low shot from 25 metres on the hour found the bottom corner of the Iraqi net as the Saudis picked up their fourth win in four matches in Group C which assured them of a top-two finish and a place in the finals for a ninth consecutive time.
“I want to congratulate all Saudi fans for this victory and I want to thank them for their support tonight as they helped us a lot to achieve this victory and they motivated the players a lot in order to get the three points,” said Saudi Arabia coach Juan Lopez Caro.
“All the players performed well tonight and they played with great fighting spirit. Iraq are a good side and they didn’t make things easy for us especially as they were strong in the physical encounters. However, the big spirit of our players helped us to get a good victory at the end.”
Younis Mahmoud, who scored the winner when the two teams met in the 2007 Asian Cup final, had levelled the score for Iraq on the stroke of half-time after Taiseer Al Jassam had put the Saudis ahead after 17 minutes. But the visitors could count themselves unlucky not to get a point as they struck the frame of the goal on three occasions and had another effort disallowed for offside.
It was their third straight defeat in the qualifiers and they now find themselves in danger of missing out on the finals after dropping four points behind second-placed China.
“We were not lucky tonight as we had many chances to score while we also should have had a penalty. However, we failed to convert from the chances that we had tonight and Saudi Arabia knew how to win,” said Iraq coach Hakeem Shaker.
“Our team has more than seven players who are still young and they were really affected by the early goal and the pressure of the fans. Saudi Arabia also have good players who know how to score goals and they deserved to win.”
Iraq’s need for a win was more desperate after they had lost their previous two games and they exerted much of the early pressure only to fall behind after a defensive lapse in the 18th minute.
Ibrahim Jahshan’s pass over the top of the Iraq defence should have been easily dealt with but Ali Adnan hesitated as he tried to shepherd the ball back to goalkeeper Mohammed Hameed, which allowed Al Jassam to nip in and stab the ball into the net.
Iraq should have got back on level terms late in the first half when they struck the woodwork three times in less than a minute. Mahmoud rocked the crossbar with a free-kick and when the ball was crossed back from the right, the Iraq captain saw his stinging effort kept out by Waleed Abdullah’s fine reflex save. The loose ball fell to Humam Tareq and his fierce shot beat Waleed only to hit the inside of the right post before ricocheting onto the left post and bouncing clear.
However, Iraq’s endeavour would be rewarded in stoppage time just before the interval. Adnan launched a long ball from his own half towards the left channel of the Saudi box where Mahmoud held off defender Mansour Al Harbi before swivelling and firing past Abdullah at his near post.
Iraq continued to press after the break but they would be caught out again when Al Shamrani received the ball 25 metres from goal and took Hameed by surprise with a low drive that arrowed past the despairing dive of the goalkeeper into the bottom right corner.
The visitors thought they were back on level terms just a minute later when Hammadi Ahmed fired home a similar low shot from just outside the box but his effort was disallowed for offside.
Ahmed Asiri almost made it 3-1 for the hosts with a bullet header in the 80th minute that produced a fine reflex save from Hameed.
The Iraqis became increasingly desperate for an equaliser in the closing minutes and Mahmoud was booked for simulation when he went down theatrically in the box with five minutes left as he attempted to win a penalty.