The Saudi national team secured its place in the quarter-finals of the Arab Cup after continuing its strong performances with a well-deserved 3-1 victory over the Comoros national team at Al Bayt Stadium on Friday 5 December evening, in the second round of the group stage.

Arab Cup: Saudi through

The Green Falcons dominated the Arab Cup match from the start, before Mohammed Kanno opened the scoring in stoppage time in the first half in the 45+4th minute. The same player returned at the start of the second half and added a second goal in the 51st minute, confirming the Saudi team’s superiority in midfield.

The Comoros team managed to reduce the deficit through Youssef Ibrahim in the 63rd minute, but Salem Al-Dossari killed off the game by scoring the third goal for the Green Falcons in the 76th minute.

With this victory, Saudi Arabia raised its tally to six points at the top of its group, officially securing its qualification for the next round, while the Comoros team bid farewell to the competition after remaining without any points.

The Green Falcons had started their campaign in the Arab Cup tournament with an important 2-1 victory over Oman.

Oman fails to capitalise on Morocco’s numerical disadvantage

In another Arab Cup match in the same round, Morocco and Oman settled for a goalless draw in a closely contested match in which both sides wasted numerous chances, despite Morocco playing with a numerical disadvantage for part of the second half.

Morocco started the match strongly through striker Abdelrazak Hamdallah, who created the first chance in the fifth minute with a powerful shot that was saved by the Omani goalkeeper, before repeating the attempt with a header that went over the crossbar. Hamdallah also missed the best chance of the first half after a clear one-on-one in the 28th minute.

Despite having one of their players sent off, the Moroccan team managed to maintain their defensive balance, while the Omani team failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority, settling for a single point in third place, compared to Morocco’s four points at the top of the table ahead of the match between Saudi Arabia and the Comoros.

The Comoros remained without points before suffering their second defeat later against Saudi Arabia.

Group Arab Cup standings after the end of the second round are as follows:

• Saudi Arabia: 6 points – officially qualified
• Morocco: 4 points
• Oman: 1 point
• Comoros: 0 points – out of the tournament

All eyes are now on the third round of the Arab Cup, which will determine the second team to qualify for the quarter-finals, amid an open competition between Morocco and Oman, while the Saudi team enters the final round comfortably after securing qualification.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.