Lebanese Federation: We were eliminated by a fierce and physically strong team

Lebanon's national team was eliminated from the Arab Cup football qualifiers after losing to Sudan 1-2 in a match held at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Al Gharafa Club, in the presence of 20,816 spectators, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Lebanese Football Association President Hashem Haidar, and Secretary General Jihad Al Shahaf.

The match witnessed different scenarios throughout its two halves, as the Lebanese team faced a fierce and physically strong opponent with high fitness levels, who were not affected by the expulsion of their player John Manu in the 23rd minute after receiving two warnings. At the same time, our team lost the efforts of its defender Hussein Sharaf El-Din due to a muscle injury in the eighth minute, so he left his place for Qassem Al-Zein.

In a first half that included 15 minutes of added time, Lebanon seemed poised to secure qualification after taking the lead in the 30th minute when Mohammed Safwan played a cross into the area, which Khalil Khamis followed up to score, taking advantage of the Sudanese goalkeeper Munjid Al-Nil's mistake.

But after goalkeeper Mustafa Matar deflected a shot by Salah Adel into a corner, the Falcons of Jediane managed to equalize the score after a corner kick cleared by Al-Zein, which fell to Mustafa Karshoum, who shot it amidst a crowd of defenders, and it rebounded off the foot of Mohammed Haidar into the net (42).

This goal gave a huge boost to the Sudanese, who also resorted to wasting time to compensate for the fatigue resulting from playing with ten players. They started the second half with momentum that forced goalkeeper Matar to intervene on two occasions.

But from a counter-attack, Yasser Jobak found himself alone in front of the goal after an individual effort, and he shot a ball that rebounded off Matar’s right hand into his goal, announcing the opening goal in the 73rd minute.

Despite the Cedars' dominance and their creation of more than one opportunity in front of Al-Neel's goal, which brilliantly saved Khamis's header in the final seconds, the result remained the same, so Lebanon exited the qualifiers, while Sudan qualified to join a group that includes Algeria, Iraq, and Bahrain, which qualified at the expense of Djibouti by defeating them with a single goal.

Lebanon was represented by: goalkeeper Mustafa Matar, Hussein Zein, Khalil Khamis, Walid Shour, Hussein Sharafeddine (Qassem Zein 8), Omar Shaaban (76), Mohammad Safwan, Ahmad Khaireddine, Mohammad Haidar (Gabriel Bitar 59), Malek Fakhro (Ali Qassas 46), Sami Marhej, Khodr Qaddour (Hussein Ezzeddine 46).