Iraq faced off against China in Doha with second place in Group A on the line. China, the more desperate team, were supremely dangerous in the first half. A glancing header was not enough to direct a ball onto the open net midway through the period. Younis Mahmoud (pictured, white) launched two solo attacks with around ten minutes left in the period, but the first resulted in a great save and the second in an awful miss off a deflection rebound by a teammate. The game was tied 0-0 at the break.At the hour mark, Mahmoud was pull down on a breakaway at midfield, leading to a yellow card for his defender. A free kick with ten minutes to go was struck toward the far post upper nintey by Hao Junmin, but Iraq goalkeeper Mohammed Kassid saved his team from doom. Late in the second half, the ever-present Mahmoud was on a solo breakaway after latching onto a through ball when Chinese defender Zhang Linpeng had to take him down from behind to save an open chance. Linpeng was sent off for the tackle with five minutes left in regulation. Nashat Akram hit a shot off the post soon after the foul, but China continued to survive without having conceded. Mahmoud, released on another long run down the right side of China's box, unleashed a rocket into the top of the next in stoppage time to secure full points for Iraq with a 1-0 win.
For Jordan, the task was straightforward: defeat Singapore at home in Amman and go to the next round of qualifying. Jordan did not dominate quite as much as they had in Singapore in October, but the resulting effort was good enough. After a quarter hour, Jordan scored the goal that made the score at the half 1-0.
In the second period, the Jordan defense continued to hold strong except for one slip-up in the 57th minute. In Singapore's only attack of the match, a cross was headed in superbly by the first of three open men in the box, but the offside flag went up for an offside infraction by the second player. Jordan learned their lesson that keeping a team close on the scoreboard is a dangerous proposition, and eight minutes later they banged home the second goal to seal the victory and progression to the next stage. With the 2-0 loss, Singapore are eliminated from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Jordan 12 pts -IN
Iraq 9 pts +2
China 3 pts -2
Singapore OUT
Goals
Iraq
Younis Mahmoud 90+2
Jordan
Ahmad Ibrahim 15
Amer Deeb 65
Match Reports:
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTHxVaDvSx0&feature=related (Iraq v. China)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y25k8Jtn7Cw (Jordan v. Singapore)
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