Our national team advanced to the quarter-finals of the Arab States Under-20 Cup with a 4-1 win over their Iraqi counterpart yesterday, Tuesday, at the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz City Sports Stadium in Abha.
Al-Akhdar raised their score to 6 points and topped Group A, with the Mauritanian team remaining in second place with 3 points. As for the Iraqi team, it dropped out of the championship, taking third place without points.
The Iraqi national team started the match in attack, and started their attempts through Ali Shahwan, but the ball went from the right post.
Our team converted a penalty in the 9th minute, of which the first goal was scored by Abdullah Al-Rafif.
Baland Azad missed an easy opportunity for Iraq before Musab Al-Juwayri extended Saudi Arabia’s lead in the 31st minute.
The Rafidain Lions closed the lead with a beautiful header from striker Aboud Rabah in the 32nd minute.
A minute later, Abdullah Radif scored the third goal for Al Akhdar with a header to the left of the Iraqi goalkeeper.
As the second half began, Al-Dosari nearly scored the fourth goal, but the assistant referee’s banner indicated that the goal had been ruled out for offside.
And substitute Ismail Muhammad landed a long-range shot that crossed the bar in Iraq’s most dangerous attempt.
The referee of the match Algerian Kamukh Youssef awarded a penalty to the Saudi Greens, which Abdullah Redif successfully shot in the 80th minute, and the match ended with four goals against the gate.
