Asian Cup champions Iraq celebrated their first match on home soil in seven years with a 3-0 friendly win over Palestine.
Hawar Mulla Mohamad, Younis Mahmoud and Loay Salah were on target in Iraq's first match played at home since a 2-1 defeat to Syria in Baghdad in July 2002.
The home side opened the scoring at the Francois Hariri Stadium in Arbil after 19 minutes when Salih Sader's corner was headed by Salam Shaker to Mohamad, who converted from close range.
Iraq should have doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time when they were awarded a penalty, but Mahmoud's effort was saved by Palestine goalkeeper Mohamad Shbeir.
Mahmoud made up for that miss, though, by scoring the second goal after 56 minutes when he headed home a cross from the left by Bassem Abbas.
Iraq continued to press and they added a third in the last minute when striker Salah shot powerfully past Shbeir.
This game was hailed as a symbol of hope and peace for the war-torn country.
The match was played in Arbil, which is the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, and it gave an opportunity for Arabs and Kurds to forgo hostilities and cheer for the same side.
Iraq had sensationally won the Asian Cup in 2007 but have struggled since and failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa, while they recently represented Asia at the Confederations Cup but failed to advance out of the group stage after recording draws against hosts South Africa and New Zealand while losing to Spain.
Meanwhile, Palestine will reportedly travel to Baghdad on Monday to play a second friendly against Iraq.
No comments:
Post a Comment