Palestine keep hopes of first World Cup alive with dramatic Iraq turnaround
Palestine kept 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 International Stadium in the Jordanian capital, was also Palestine's first at this stage of the Asian qualifiers for football's global showpiece tournament.
Aymen Hussein's glancing header, from Ibrahim Bayesh's cross in the 34th minute, looked to have sealed the tie for Iraq but Abou Ali headed home a leveller with two minutes of normal time to play.
Ameed Mahajneh then created history by heading in a corner from Adam Kaied's corner – the same setup and assist as for Palestine's first goal – seven minutes into injury time.
Bayesh and Ali both had earlier chances to find the net for Palestine, who had produced a far more spirited second-half display as they attempted to drag themselves back into the match.
The win lifts Palestine off the bottom of Group B and into fifth spot with six points, placing them one point and one place above Kuwait.
Iraq, one of the favourites to progress from the group, are third with 12 points.
The top two nations from each of the three remaining six-team groups, currently South Korea and Jordan in Group B with 16 and 13 points, respectively, qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup.
The sides finishing third and fourth progress to a further playoff stage for places at next year's tournament, which is being jointly staged by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The historic result leaves Palestine four points behind fourth-placed Oman with two games to play.
They next face a trip to bottom-of-the-group Kuwait on June 5, while Oman entertain Jordan on the same day.
The final round of group-stage fixtures on June 10 sees Palestine host Oman in Jordan, which could by then be a straight face-off for fourth spot – and with it, a place in the playoffs for a place at the World Cup.
Palestine reached the knockout stages of an Asian Cup for the first time at the 2023 tournament before being eliminated by eventual champions Qatar in the second round.
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