Palestine keep hopes of first World Cup alive with dramatic Iraq turnaround

With a dramatic comeback to defeat Iraq 2-1 in Jordan, Palestine continued to hope for their first FIFA World Cup title.

Palestine’s first victory in the Asian qualifiers for football’s global showpiece tournament came on Tuesday at Amman International Stadium in the capital of the country.

Abou Ali headed home a leveller with two minutes left before Aymen Hussein’s glancing header from Ibrahim Bayesh’s cross in the 34th minute had the game tied.

Seven minutes into injury time, Ameed Mahajneh made history by scoring a corner from Adam Kaied’s corner, same setup and assist as when Palestine scored its opening goal.

For Palestine, who had put together a much more energetic second-half display as they fought back to win the match, Bayesh and Ali had earlier had equal opportunities to score.

With six points, Palestine moves one point and one place ahead of Kuwait in the process. The result lifts them off the bottom of Group B.

With 12 points, Iraq, one of the favorites to leave the group, is third.

The top two countries, South Korea and Jordan in Group B, who currently have 16 and 13 points each, automatically advance to the 2026 World Cup.

The third and fourth-placed teams advance to the playoffs for spots at the next year’s tournament, which is being staged by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in tandem.

With only two games left, Palestine is four points clear of fourth-placed Oman thanks to the historic result.

On June 5, Oman and Jordan will travel to bottom-of-the-group Kuwait, where they will play on the same day.

Oman and Palestine will face off in Jordan in the final group-stage match on June 10 for a straight face-off for fourth spot and, with it, a spot in the playoffs for a spot at the World Cup.

Palestine, which was the first time it had ever reached the Asian Cup semifinals, was knocked out by Qatar in the second round, which would have been the previous champion.

The goal, according to #AsianQualifiers | #PLEvIRQ pic, kept Palestinian World Cup hopes alive. https://twitter.com/PgfBWC5gtz