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Iraq He produced one of the most dramatic moments of World Cup qualifying Down by scoring a goal in the 17th minute of stoppage time united arab emirates and achieved a dramatic 3–2 aggregate play-off victory to book their place in the Intercontinental Qualifiers.
In front of a packed Basra International Stadium, Amir Al-Ammari struck from the spot to take Graham Arnold’s side into the crucial March play-offs. Keeping Iraq’s World Cup dream alive,
The winner came when substitute Mohanad Ali scored the equalizer in the 66th minute for the Iraqi team, who had fallen behind to Kaio Lucas’s opener 14 minutes earlier.
Iraq, who are trying to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since their first appearance in 1986, will now join five other teams in the play-offs with two places available in the finals.
The game of few chances came alive in the 52nd minute when Yahia Nader slipped the ball through midfield into the path of Caio Lucas, the Brazilian-born forward taking a touch before firing past Jalal Hassan to score.
The Emiratis almost doubled their lead two minutes later, only for Nicolás Jiménez’s volley to hit the crossbar and Hassan, who was celebrating his 100th appearance for Iraq, well beaten.
Iraq were second best for most of the game but a set piece helped Arnold’s team equalise.
Al-Ammari curled his free kick from the left flank towards the six-yard box and Ali’s header took a deflection off Nader ensuring goalkeeper Khaled Aissa had little chance of stopping the ball crossing the line.
Ali was again heavily involved when Iraq were awarded the decisive penalty, the striker connecting with a header which Nader turned away with his hand and referee Yusuke Araki pointed to the spot after looking at the pitchside monitor.
Al-Ammari fired the spot-kick high into the goal as Aissa dived the wrong way, leading to celebrations in the stands.
reuters