A negative draw between Qatar and Oman…a gift for the UAE national team

The Qatari and Omani teams provided a valuable service to the “Emirati White” team, after their goalless draw yesterday at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, in the first match of the Asian play-off competitions qualifying for the 2026 World Cup finals.

With this result, the Oman and Qatar teams now have one point each, which is in the interest of the UAE team, which begins its Asian playoff campaign against Oman the day after tomorrow, Saturday. If it wins, it will top the first group, before the decisive match with Qatar, scheduled for the 14th of this month.

The three teams compete for one ticket to qualify directly for the World Cup, while the second-placed team has another opportunity by meeting the second of Group B, and the winner moves on to compete via a global playoff.

The beginning of the match, which was watched by a large audience, came in favor of the Qatari team, which entered the match strongly. Boualem Khoukhi almost opened the scoring early with a missile shot that passed along the right post, in the most dangerous opportunity for “Al Annabi” during the first quarter of an hour, then Issam Al-Sabahi fired a powerful shot from outside the area, but goalkeeper Mahmoud Abundi was on time.

Fate was merciful in the first minutes of the second half to the Omani national team, after they were lucky in a dangerous opportunity, led by Qatari star Akram Afif, who skillfully penetrated the defenses, before shooting a creeping ball that passed along the post.