JEDDAH, 25 January 2007 — Saudi Arabia delivered on their promise to fans to comfortably qualify for the next round of the 18th Gulf Cup Championship after defeating Iraq 1-0 in the final Group B match yesterday in Dubai. The stage is now set for the semifinals with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain qualifying from Group B and Oman and UAE from Group A.

Saudi Arabia will clash in the semifinals with host UAE in a match billed as death match. Saudi Arabia was first to score in the 11th minute from a penalty kick through the star of the match Yaser Al-Qahtani who slammed the ball in the opposite side of the goalkeeper.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq were both widely tipped to win the trophy. Now that Iraq are out Oman have emerged a likely title contender with all due respect to Bahrain and UAE.

The agile Al-Qahtani annoyed the Iraqi defenders and caused Haider Aboudi to get the red card when he tackled him twice as Al-Qahtani was running toward the goal. Despite the fact that the Iraqis were down by one player this did not stop them from launching attacks and threatening the Saudi goalkeeper every so often in the second half. Hawar Mulla Muhammad missed more than one chance for Iraq to score the equalizer.

Saudi coach Marcos Paqueta had to substitute Al-Qahtani with Saad Al-Harthi because he received a yellow card. The coach did not want to risk another yellow card on Qahtani because that will deprive him of a star striker for the next match against UAE.

This win did the Bahraini team a favor although they qualified after defeating Qatar 2-1 in a match that was played at the same time. With this win, Saudi Arabia paid back the debt they owed Bahrain when Bahrain helped Saudi Arabia get the World Cup ticket in 2002 after defeating Iran 3-1 in Bahrain in the last match. At that time Saudi Arabia defeated Thailand in Riyadh 4-0 and were waiting for a miracle from Bahrain to defeat Iran.

Khalfan Ibrahim put Qatar first in the scoresheet. Alaa Hubail, who gave Bahrain the win, shot the equalizer in the minutes 45. The complexion of the match changed dramatically as both Qatar and Bahrain were supposed to exit the match with a 1-1 draw. Hubail had other ideas grabbing a late winner for the Bahrainis.

Iraqi players were reduced to tears as the match ended and the Bahrainis did not believe their eyes that they actually made it to the next round. Iraq would have qualified with Saudi Arabia in second place were it not for the exciting late goal in the other match. Qatar, the defending champions, and Iraq followed Kuwait and Yemen, from the other group, out of the competition.

Saad Al-Harthi said at the end of the match that all players should put the win behind them and concentrate on the next match against UAE. He said that the UAE team are a tough opponent and the best proof of this was the last match against Kuwait. He said that the Saudi team are one step away from the final and that they should not miss that chance.

Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, deputy president of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, expressed his happiness that the Saudi team made it to the next round via the Iraqi gate. The prince congratulated the players and the team officials for the excellent performance against Iraq and urged them to show the same team performance against UAE.