Draw against Iraq fails Oman into WAFF semis

MUSCAT: The Oman national football under-15 team ended their campaign early in the West Asian Football Championship after they play out a 1-1 draw against Iraq on Friday at Al Saada Sports Complex in Salalah. The draw kept Oman in third position at four points with goal difference only than Iraq who finished as runners-up and took the second ticket to accompany the group topper Yemen to the semis.

Oman kicked off their campaign with a 1-0 win over Lebanon before stepping down against Yemen 1-0 in the second match. Yemen boys registered their third straight victory in the tournament after beating Lebanon 2-0 to mark their ninth point successfully and top the group order.

Oman national football U-15 match with Iraq

Coach Anwar al Habsi’s boys started with purpose of securing a win that will advance them to the semifinal round. However, Oman’s side were met with tough Iraqi defending line. Iraq players began the match with better focus than the hosts as their players managed to monitor at Oman’s side and get much closer to the goalie of Oman’s Ali al Owaini. Iraq’s Zain al Abdeen al Rubai was the active man in the pitch as he created many scoring attempts for his team. After their strong domination, al Rubai broke the deadlock as he netted the opening goal in the 54th minute with a strong header with no proper defending from Omani side. 12 minutes later, Iraq’s Ali Ammar scored an own goal to deliver an equilateral for Oman team and make the result at 1-1.

Oman national football U-15 match with Iraq

In the other group, Saudi Arabia are topping the group with four points as they registered 2-0 win over Syria in the opening and they play out a 2-2 draw with Jordan in the second match. Syria defeated UAE 1-0 in the second round matches after they suffered loss against Saudi in the opening match. UAE beat Jordan 1-0 in the opener.

With the conclusion of Oman’s team in this journey at West Asian Football Championship, it is expected the technical committee and the national team committee will address all the weakness areas and seek for the solutions from the coaching staff ahead of the major upcoming events.