Last gasp Iraqi goals end Qatar’s Olympic dreams.
Qatar’s Olympic dreams ended in heart-break on Friday evening at Al Sadd Stadium. The young Maroons lost to a strong Iraqi side 2-1 in extra time, meaning that Iraq grabbed the final Olympic birth for Asian sides.
It started so well for Qatar., Akram Afif,star of the young maroons in this campaign ran though the Iraqi defensive ranks and delivered a perfect assist to Ahmed Alla who gave Qatar a dream start to the tie, putting them one up.
Felix’s Sanchez’s side had the majority of key chances in the first half; however Qatar threatened to make their chances turn into goals, most notably from Musaab Khidir, Moez Ali and Ahmed Yasser, the first half ended 1-0 to Qatar.
In the second half, Qatar continued their dominance with Akrim Afif missing a key one-on-one effort with Iraqi stopper Fahad Talib. Qatar where to rue their dominance as Iraq grabbed an equalizer in the 86th minute to force the tie into extra time. Striker Mohannad Abdul-Raheem latched onto a long ball to nod into the Qatari goal.
In extra time Iraq pushed for a winner, and again it was a long ball which proved to be Qatar’s undoing. This time a lofted ball fell to Ayman Hussein who had time and space to direct his header downwards and past Qatari stopper Muhannad Naim. Iraq took the lead, and held out to end Qatar’s Olympic dreams.
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