Watch…the victory of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup | sports

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3/22/2024–|Last updated: 3/22/202412:28 AM (Mecca time)

Akram Afif scored two goals in Qatar’s 3-0 victory over its guest Kuwait in the double qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup on Thursday.

Qatar, the Asian champion, raised its score to 9 points, achieving the full score after 3 matches and topping the first group. India comes in second place with 4 points. Kuwait’s score stopped at 3 points, while Afghanistan was at the bottom of the standings with one point.

Afif gave Qatar the lead two minutes after the start of the second half, taking advantage of a mistake by the Kuwaiti defense in clearing a cross before Ahmed Al-Rawi made the score 2-0.

Afif, who appeared as number 10 instead of Hassan Al-Haydos, who retired internationally, concluded Qatar’s goals with a volley over the goalkeeper in the 68th minute.

Saudi Arabia continues its victories

The Saudi national team continued its victories in the qualifiers with a 1-0 victory over its guest, the Tajikistan national team, thanks to a goal scored by Salem Al-Dosari.

Coach Roberto Mancini’s team, which exited the last Asian Cup in the round of 16 by losing on penalties to South Korea, strengthened its lead in Group Seven with 9 points from 3 victories.

On the other hand, the Tajikistan national team, which achieved a historic achievement by qualifying for the quarter-finals in the Asian Cup before losing 1-0 to Jordan, froze at 4 points in second place, equal to Jordan, which won 3-0 over Pakistan, bottom of the group, earlier today.

Al-Dosari scored the only goal of the match in the 23rd minute when he received the ball and dribbled past a number of Tajikistan players before firing a low shot from outside the penalty area into the net.

Iraq strengthens its lead

The Iraqi national team strengthened its position at the top of the Group Six qualifiers table after its valuable 1-0 victory over its guest, the Philippine national team, in the third round of the group, which also witnessed the victory of the Indonesia national team by the same score over its guest, the Vietnam national team.

The Iraqi team continued to sit at the top of the group standings with 9 points, achieving the full mark so far, after winning all three of its qualifying matches so far.

The Indonesian team is in second place with 4 points, one point ahead of the Vietnam team, which is in third place, while the Philippine team is at the bottom of the standings with one point.

Muhannad Ali played the starring role in the match, after scoring the Iraqi team’s only goal in the 84th minute.

The UAE continues its search for qualification

The UAE national team continued its quest to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1990 with a 2-1 victory over its host Yemen, after achieving its third successive victory in the second stage of the qualifiers.

The UAE took the lead through Ali Saleh, who executed a penalty kick brilliantly against Abdullah Al-Saadi, the Yemeni goalkeeper, 24 minutes after the start of the match.

Yemen was able to adjust the score in the 69th minute after UAE defender Abdullah Idris scored an own goal by mistake, after a direct free kick from the left side, played with a cross pass inside the area. Idris touched the ball and directed it into the net of his goalkeeper, Khaled Issa.

But the UAE regained the lead after just two minutes through Sultan Adel, who met a cross from a corner kick with a stunning header that went into the Yemeni goal.

The UAE is close to ensuring qualification to the third stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, after raising its score to 9 points from 3 matches, surpassing Bahrain by 6 points, which swept Nepal 5-0 today as well.

The UAE qualified for the World Cup only once, specifically in 1990 when Italy hosted the tournament.

Oman is regaining its balance

Oman scored two goals in the second half to revive its hopes of qualifying for the third stage after a 2-0 victory over its host Malaysia today as well.

Oman has not yet appeared in the World Cup, and is trying to advance in order to continue the dream of first qualifying for the tournament.

Issam Al-Subhi scored Oman’s first goal after 58 minutes, before Mohsen Al-Ghassani added the second goal one minute before the end of regular time, giving Oman 3 valuable points in the qualifying round.

With this victory, Oman raised its score to 6 points, advancing to the top of Group Four on goal difference over Kyrgyzstan, which won 2-0 over Taiwan earlier in the day.

Palestine achieves its first victory

The Palestine national team achieved its first victory in the current round of qualifiers after Uday Al-Dabbagh scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Bangladesh in the match held in Kuwait.

The Palestine national team raised its score to 4 points, 5 points behind Australia, the leader of Group Nine.

The second round includes 36 teams divided into 9 groups, and each group includes 4 teams competing in a round-robin league system. The first two teams from each group qualify for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, and these teams receive tickets to participate in the 2027 Asian Cup.

In the third round, the 18 teams are divided into 3 groups, so that each group includes 6 teams competing in a round-robin league system, and the first two teams from each group qualify directly to the World Cup, while the third and fourth teams from each group move on to compete in the fourth round, in order to Determine the last two teams to obtain direct seats for the World Cup, and the team that moves to the Asian playoff to determine the team that qualifies for the global playoff.

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