º£½ÇÖ±²¥ are through to the final of the WAFF U23 Championship after beating Iraq 1-0 in their last four clash at the Prince Fahd Bin Mohamed Stadium in Dammam.
The Young Falcons will now contest Tuesday’s final against Jordan, who beat Syria 5-2 in the other semifinal earlier on Sunday. The 11-team tournament was organized by the º£½ÇÖ±²¥n Football Federation and the West Asia Football federation.
The home team’s winner came four minutes into the second half from a header by Khalid Al-Ghannam, the 20-year-old Al-Nassr winger.
º£½ÇÖ±²¥ started the stronger of the two teams with Abdullah Al-Hamdan unsuccessfully calling for a penalty after being stopped by the Iraqi goalkeeper when through on goal.
With Iraq happy to defend deep, º£½ÇÖ±²¥ continued to dominate the match and could have scored from opportunities for Turki Al-Ammar, Al-Hamdan and Al-Ghannam, but the first half ended goalless.
After the restart, substitute Muhannad Al-Shanqti’s fine cross found Al-Ghannam who gave the hosts the lead.
Though Iraq almost equalized when Zidane Iqbal hit the post in the 62nd minute, º£½ÇÖ±²¥ saw out the rest of the match to reach the final.
