Palestine hold hopes of first World Cup alive with dramatic Iraq turnaround | Soccer Information

Palestine rating twice within the closing minutes of their Group C qualifier for a historic 2-1 win in opposition to Iraq in Jordan.

Palestine stored alive hopes of reaching their first FIFA World Cup finals with a dramatic late comeback to beat Iraq 2-1 in Jordan.

The victory on Tuesday, at Amman Worldwide Stadium within the Jordanian capital, was additionally Palestine’s first at this stage of the Asian qualifiers for soccer’s world showpiece match.

Aymen Hussein’s glancing header, from Ibrahim Bayesh’s cross within the thirty fourth minute, seemed to have sealed the tie for Iraq however Abou Ali headed dwelling a leveller with two minutes of regular time to play.

Ameed Mahajneh then created historical past by heading in a nook from Adam Kaied’s nook – the identical setup and help as for Palestine’s first objective – seven minutes into damage time.

Bayesh and Ali each had earlier possibilities to seek out the web for Palestine, who had produced a much more spirited second-half show as they tried to pull themselves again into the match.

The win lifts Palestine off the underside of Group B and into fifth spot with six factors, putting them one level and one place above Kuwait.

Iraq, one of many favourites to progress from the group, are third with 12 factors.

The highest two nations from every of the three remaining six-team teams, at the moment South Korea and Jordan in Group B with 16 and 13 factors, respectively, qualify routinely for the 2026 World Cup.

The perimeters ending third and fourth progress to an additional playoff stage for locations at subsequent yr’s match, which is being collectively staged by the US, Canada and Mexico.

The historic end result leaves Palestine 4 factors behind fourth-placed Oman with two video games to play.

They subsequent face a visit to bottom-of-the-group Kuwait on June 5, whereas Oman entertain Jordan on the identical day.

The ultimate spherical of group-stage fixtures on June 10 sees Palestine host Oman in Jordan, which might by then be a straight face-off for fourth spot – and with it, a spot within the playoffs for a spot on the World Cup.

Palestine reached the knockout levels of an Asian Cup for the primary time on the 2023 match earlier than being eradicated by eventual champions Qatar within the second spherical.