Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Antalya: Iraq made an impressive start to their 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup campaign on Sunday when Ali Adnan’s stoppage-time strike saw the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship runners-up come from two-goals down to draw 2-2 against England in their Group E opener.
England, who are managed by former Bahrain national team head coach Peter Taylor, took the lead with four minutes of the first half at the Akdeniz University Stadium through a header from skipper Conor Coady before Luke Williams well-taken strike seven minutes after the restart put the Three Lions firmly in control.
But with quarter-of-an-hour left to play Iraq were awarded a penalty when Mohannad Abdulraheem, MVP at last year’s AFC U-19 Championship, was upended in the box by England keeper Samuel Johnstone and Ali Faez successfully converted the resultant spot-kick.
As the match moved into stoppage-time England looked to have done enough to record their first victory in the Under 20s World Cup in 16 years but there was to be a final twist in the tale as Ali Adnan advanced from the left and surged past series of tired challenges before squeezing the ball under the body of Johnstone to earn Iraq a share of the spoils.
Photo: AFP