Striker Ayman Hussein gave his country Iraq a valuable 1-0 victory over its Omani guest, Thursday, in Basra, in the first round of Group Two matches in the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in football.
The Lions of Mesopotamia quickly began to pose a threat to their guests’ goal, as Youssef Amin fired a ball from outside the penalty area, which was pushed away by Omani goalkeeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini to a corner kick (1). Three minutes later, Ayman Hussein’s header missed Al-Mukhaini’s goal (4), before he tried again in the same way without success (12).
The Iraqis’ superiority in possession and creating chances resulted in a goal via a header by Hussein following a corner kick executed by Ali Jassim.
(13). The Omani reaction was not absent after falling behind in the score, as Abdul Rahman Al-Mashafri tried twice with a header.
(16 and 24), then Issam Al-Subhi with a shot (25) and Harb Al-Saadi in the same way (25), and Jameel Al-Yahmadi followed them with a shot from a long distance that Jalal Hassan blocked (27).
In the second half, the pace of the match dropped significantly, as there was no real danger from either goal, with Oman having the upper hand in search of an equaliser and a point to return to Muscat.
The efforts of the players of Czech coach Jaroslav Silhavy almost achieved their goal in the 88th minute when Abdullah Fawaz shot a powerful ball that was brilliantly saved by Hassan.
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Omani midfielder Murshid Al-Alawi received a red card for roughness.
With this victory, Iraq raised its score to three points at the top of Group Two, one point ahead of South Korea and Palestine.
Jordan will host Kuwait later in the same group. Iraq will host Kuwait on Tuesday, while Oman will host South Korea on the same day, in the second round.
