Palestine edge Oman to go top
WEST BANK: Palestine maintained their perfect start to the third phase of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 on Tuesday with a 2-1 win over Oman at Faisal Al Hussaini Stadium on the West Bank.
Goals from Jonathan Zorrilla and Yaser Islame meant Abdalnasser Barakat’s side claimed a second successive win after notching up a 3-0 victory over the Maldives in their opening game in March.
Oman went into the game off the back of a 14-0 thrashing of Bhutan, but Pim Verbeek’s team found the Palestinians to be an entirely different proposition in front of their own fans and on the artificial pitch.
Within 14 minutes, the home side had taken the lead when Zorrilla headed beyond Oman goalkeeper Ali al Habsi following a cross from the left by Shadi Shaban.
Seven Palestinians advantage.
The Oman defence struggled to fully clear an attack down the left flank and the ball eventually fell at the feet of Islame, and his powerful right foot shot flew into the top corner via the underside of the crossbar.
On the stroke of halftime, the Omanis halved the deficit when minutes later doubled the their Abdulaziz al Maqbali, who scored six times in the win over Bhutan, was upended just outside the area and Ahmed Mubarak stepped up to score, beating Rami Hamada.
The goal gave the visitors the encouragement needed to press for an equaliser in the second 45 minutes but, despite dominating, there was no way past Hamada and the Palestinians held on to take all three points.