AFC U20 Asian Cup
Hayder Abdulkareem gave the Iraqis the lead in the 28th minute before Shamoon was dismissed in first half injury time while captain Qassim missed from the spot with 16 minutes remaining of an eventful Group A clash. Mohammed Jameel scored a late second for Iraq.
The Iraqis did enough to take the points, however, as coach Mohammed attempts to lead his nation to their first Asian title at this level since winning the trophy in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2000.
Both sides threatened in the opening exchanges, with Iraq’s Qasim and Hokky Caraka of Indonesia trading opportunities in a lively start.
That continued when Ali Jassim was denied by Daffa Fasya’s flying save and Shamoon’s shot was touched around the post while Iraqi goalkeeper Hussein Hassan also needed to be alert to deny Ronaldo Joybera.
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Indonesia’s defensive resistance was broken in the 28th minute when Muhammad Ferrari’s error was ruthlessly punished, the captain’s attempt to tackle Sajjad Mohammed saw the ball roll into the path of Abdulkareem (pictured below) and he coolly struck into the corner.
The Garuda Muda could have been level within five minutes but Kakang Rudianto’s close range header was directed the wrong side of the post with the Iraqi defence absent.
The game took another turn as the clock ticked into injury time when Shamoon was given a direct red card for an off-the-ball incident involving Arkhan Fikri, leaving Mohammed’s side to face an entire half short-handed.
That did little to decrease the threat posed by the Iraqis, who could easily have gone into the break further ahead only for Abbas Fadhil to fluff his lines when put in on goal following Arkhan’s miss-hit pass.
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While the Indonesians threatened after the restart it was Iraq who went closest to adding a second seven minutes into the half, but Fadhil was unable to find the back of the net despite having the time and space to strike beyond Fasya.
Jassim twice shot over the bar as Iraq shrugged off the numerical disadvantage and should have gone further ahead with little over a quarter of an hour to go when they were awarded a penalty as Frengky MIssa brought down Mustafa Qabeel in the penalty area.
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Qassim was unable to capitalise as he sent his spot-kick wide of Fasya’s left post, but Iraq managed to close out the game despite the miss with Jameel scoring from close range deep into injury time to complete the win.
Iraq will meet hosts Uzbekistan next on Saturday with Indonesia to play Syria.
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