Khaberni - The national Olympic football team under 23 years old drew with its UAE counterpart with a score of 1-1, in the friendly match that took place today, Monday, at the Emirates Club Stadium, concluding its training camp in preparation for participating in the Asian finals early next year.
The team's goal was signed by Khaldoun Sabra at the 73rd minute.
The team in the match consisted of: Murad Al Falouji (Abdulrahman Suleiman), Arafat Al Haj, Jafar Samara, Mohammad Al Shatti, Ahmad Al Maghrabi (Abdullah Al Munis), Ayham Al Samamreh (Mohammad Taha), Hashim Mubeidin (Yousef Qushi), Mohammad Kahlan (Saleh Freij), Momen Al Saket (Omar Khader), Amin Al Shayna (Mahmoud Dheeb), Abdulrahman Al Zaghaibeh (Khaldoun Sabra).
The national team sought early to open the scoring by utilizing the speed of the front trio, but the opponent's defense was present, and in the 45th minute, the hosts scored the opening goal to end the first half 0-1.
In the second half, coach Omar Najahi made several substitutions that raised the pace of the game, with substitute Sabra scoring the equalizer after a notable header from Al Saket, which rebounded from the goalkeeper and settled in front of him to slot it into the net.
As the minutes continued, the national team sought on several occasions to add the second goal, but the post and the goalkeeper prevented that, ending the match in a 1-1 draw.
The national team had prevailed in the initial match against its UAE counterpart 2-0.
The national team delegation is expected to return to the homeland tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday.
It should be noted that the draw for the Asian finals placed the team in Group A alongside Saudi Arabia (the host), Vietnam, and Kyrgyzstan.
The team will kick off its participation in the tournament, running from January 6th next year through January 25th, facing Vietnam, then Saudi Arabia, and concluding the group stage with a match against Kyrgyzstan.
According to the tournament system, the 16 participating teams were divided into 4 groups, each consisting of 4 teams, competing in a single-round robin system, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.
