Thursday 19th November 2009
Kareem earns Iraq tournament win
Asian Cup champions Iraq defeated the host nation 1-0 in the final to win the UAE international friendly tournament.
The Iraqis, who defeated Azerbaijan in their previous match on Sunday, owed their win to midfielder Mahdi Kareem, who scored the only goal of the night after 20 minutes with a powerful header past UAE goalkeeper Majed Nasser.
UAE should have levelled the scores on 45 minutes but Ahmed Khalil's header went wide, and Theyab Awana's second-half effort was saved by Iraqi goalkeeper Mohammed Kassid.
Azerbaijan secured third place in the tournament following their 2-0 win against Czech Republic earlier in the day.
Vagif Javadov gave Azerbaijan the lead after 24 minutes before Asif Abbasov sealed the win a minute from time.
Join us on Facebook