Report by talal osman
The Jordanian national team booked a ticket to the semi-finals of the Arab Football Cup after its 1 - 0 victory over Iraq in the match that brought them together in the quarter-finals of the tournament and was held at Education City Stadium in Doha.Ali Alwan scored Jordan's only goal of the match in the 41st minute from a penalty kick awarded to Mustafa Saadoun, the Iraqi player, following a handball following a header from Mahmoud Mardi, the Jordanian player.The Jordanian national team will meet in the semi-finals with its Saudi counterpart, which defeated the Palestinian national team 2-1 after extra time on Thursday.The match began with great offensive pressure from the Jordanian national team, which, through its star and top scorer in the tournament, Ali Alwan, in addition to Yazan Al-Naimat and captain Mahmoud Al-Mardi in the attacking line, tried to threaten Iraq's goal and its goalkeeper, Ahmed Bassil.
On the other hand, the Iraqi team exchanged attacks with its opponent and launched multiple attempts to threaten Jordan's goal and its goalkeeper, Yazid Abu Laila. The Jordanian national team and its Moroccan coach, Jamal Al-Salami, suffered a strong blow in the 15th minute, after star Yazan Al-Naimat was forced to leave the match after falling without colliding in one of the attempts inside the Iraqi penalty area, to be replaced by the return of Al-Fakhouri.
Al-Naimat's exit gave the Iraqi defense the space to start attacks and support the midfield with the necessary passes. Muhannad Ali, the team's striker, tried to threaten Jordan's goal after the offensive tide turned in his team's favor. The referee awarded a penalty kick to the Jordanian team, after the ball touched the hand of Mustafa Saadoun, the Iraqi player, inside the penalty area, and Ali Alwan successfully translated it into the goal in the 41st minute, after placing the ball in the left corner of goalkeeper Ahmed Bassil's goal.
The remaining minutes of the first half witnessed mutual attempts from both sides, but they did not result in anything new, ending with the Jordanian team leading by a clean goal over its Iraqi counterpart.
Ali Jassim, the Iraqi national team player, shot a ball from outside the penalty area, but Yazid Abu Laila, the Jordanian goalkeeper, successfully blocked it in the 71st minute, before he was injured, but he succeeded in continuing to play despite the doubts surrounding that.Despite the Iraqi team's numerous attempts to equalize in the final minutes of the match, the referee blew the final whistle as Jordan defeated Iraq 1-0, advancing to the semi-finals.
