Abu Dhabi: Iraq became the leaders of the second group in the 20th Gulf Cup after beating Bahrain 3-2 in the most exciting and competitive match of the regional tournament held in Aden, Yemen.
Alaa Abdul Zahra was the hero of Iraq scoring twice and Hawar Mulla Mohammad added the third while Fawzi Ayesh and Esmail Abdul Latif scored for Bahrain, all five goals were from dead ball situations.
Abdul Zahra put Iraq into the lead in the 30th minute following a flag kick from Hawar which was headed by Salam Shaker to Abdul Zahra who placed home from close range.
Ayesh equalised for Bahrain two minutes before the break from a free kick just outside the penalty box.
Another corner from Hawar was headed back by Qusai Muneer in the 56th minute and Abdul Zahra was on hand to head home the second goal for Iraq. Then Hawar himself scored the third goal from the penalty spot in the 89th minute following a foul from Ahmad Hamdan against Younus Mahmoud.
Bahrain ws awarded a penalty in the fourth minute of injury time and Abdul Latif converted correctly to reduce the margin but there was no time for them to equalize.
Iraq increased their tally to 4 points from two matches followed by Oman and the UAE with two points each while Bahrain have a single point.
The UAE will face Bahrain and Iraq will play against Oman in the last matches of the preliminary round on Monday to decide the two teams from the group in the semi finals with the chance available for all the four teams.
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