The 2019 AFC Asian Cup kicked off on Saturday, and we’ve already seen some pretty remarkable things from the United Arab Emirates — India won its first match at the competition since 1964, Jordan shocked Australia and today featured three spectacular goals from the two matches.
We’ll start with two from Saudi Arabia’s 4-0 beatdown of North Korea (who played the entire second half down a man). The second goal of the match for the Green Falcons was scored by Al-Ahli defender Mohammed Al-Fatil, who applied an instinctive backheel to a free kick for the finish.
But now let’s rewind to Saudi Arabia’s first, scored by 26-year-old winger Hattan Bahebri. This was Bahebri’s first international goal, and it was a devilish combination of skill and technique.
Finally, Iraq and Vietnam played to a wild 3-2 finish at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Twice Vietnam took the lead, only to be pegged back by Iraq on both occasions. Then, in the 90th minute, Iraq’s Ali Adnan — who plays his club ball for Atalanta in Serie A — stepped forward and secured all three points with this clutch free kick.
Tomorrow completes the first round of matches in the group stage with Qatar-Lebanon, Japan-Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan-Oman the fixtures.
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