Jordan 1-0 Saudi Arabia – Saudi is Out!

AFC – DOHA, Saudi Arabia crashed out of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ after Baha’ Abdelrahman’s first-half goal sealed a 1-0 win for Jordan at Al Rayyan Stadium on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia may have changed their coach but it made little difference to the result as Abdelrahman struck three minutes before the break in the Group B encounter to now give Jordan every chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

It was the Saudis who were first to threaten, though, when Mohammed Al Shalhoub sent in a cross from the right that was met by Naif Hazazi but Amer Shafi displayed quick reactions to make the save.

Jordan were on the back foot and Hazazi saw a powerful shot from outside the area rise over the crossbar in the 19th minute but Adnan Hamad’s side had a sight of goal two minutes later when skipper Bashar Bani Yaseen fired straight at goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah.

Saudi Arabia continued to dominate the middle of the pitch and again went close in the 35th minute when midfielder Saud Kariri struck a first-time effort that proved just too high.

The Jordanians then stunned Saudi Arabia in the 42nd minute when they opened the scoring, although Abdullah will have to take some of the blame.

Abdelrahman looked to deliver an inswinging cross from the left into the box and although it was over hit, it caught out Abdullah who was too far off his line as the ball dropped over his head and into the net, with the Saudi keeper scrambling back in vain to keep it out.

Jordan almost doubled their lead just before the interval when Odai Al Saify found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat but Abdullah partially atoned for his earlier misjudgement by denying the striker.

The second-half started slowly with Jordan content to sit on their lead while Saudi Arabia, despite fielding three forwards with the introduction of Nassir Al Shamrani at half-time, failed to create any meaningful chances.

It took until 15 minutes from the end for them to seriously threaten the Jordanian goal as Al Shamrani exchanged passes with Taiseer Al Jassam before driving into the area but Amer Shafi was equal to his effort.

Saudi Arabia continued to press but were unable to find the goal they needed to stay in the competition as Jordan recorded a famous victory that puts them in with a very real possibility of reaching the last eight.