Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Basra: Akram Afif scored twice with Ismail Mohamed adding another as Qatar scored a 3-2 win over Iraq in the International Friendship Championship at the Basra International Stadium in Iraq on Wednesday.
Played in front of 65,000 fans, the match was Iraq's first on home soil since the FIFA Council lifted a ban on the country hosting competitive international matches last week.
Three Iraqi cities – Erbil, Basra and Karbala – have been cleared by the world football body to host international matches.
The excited fans greeted both teams enthusiastically but it was Qatar who settled faster as Afif put them in the lead with a neat finish in the 17th minute after some excellent build-up work by Karim Boudiaf and Almoez Ali.
Qatar, defeated by Iraq in the recent Gulf Cup, could have doubled their lead just minutes later but Afif's finishing was not as clinical as the one that led to his goal, with his shot finding the side netting.
Spurred by the narrow escape, Iraq grew into the game and were level in the 31st minute when Ahmed Yassin Ghani capitalised on a failed Qatar offside trap to turn in Brwa Nour’s cross from the right.
Akram, however, would have the last say of the first half as he restored Qatar's lead in added-on time with a scorcher from just outside the penalty box.
Iraq came close several times at the start of the second half but it was Qatar who went further ahead with an excellent team goal that left the home team's defence helpless.
Akram played the ball to Almoez on the left, who in turn found captain Hassan al-Haydos on the right and his pinpoint cross left Ismail Mohammed with a simple tap-in on the goal line in the 63rd minute.
Hussein Ali Al-Saedi narrowed the deficit for Iraq four minutes later but an equaliser was not to come as Qatar took the three points.
Qatar will next play Syria on Saturday while Iraq face the Syrians three days later.
https://www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/jordan-kuwait-march21.html
