Saudi Arabia earn draw with Iraq to secure World Cup berth

VIDEO SHOWS: HIGHLIGHTS OF SAUDI ARABIA & IRAQ'S 0-0 DRAW IN FOURTH ROUND AFC QUALIFIER FOR THE 2026 WORLD CUP COMPLETE SHOTLIST TO FOLLOW SHOWS: JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA (OCTOBER 14, 2025) (AFC – See restrictions before use) STORY: Saudi Arabia claimed a 0-0 draw with Iraq in Jeddah on Tuesday (October 14) to seal qualification for next year's World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Herve Renard's side only needed a point against Graham Arnold's Iraq, and an injury-time save by goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi to keep out Hassan Abdulkareem's curling free kick ensured the Saudis confirmed their progress. The result means Saudi Arabia win Group B of the fourth round of Asia's preliminaries, finishing level on four points with the Iraqis but ahead of their neighbours on goals scored after recording a 3-2 win over third-place finishers Indonesia. Both sides struggled throughout a tense opening 45 minutes played in front of more than 60,000 fans, with Saleh Abu Al-Shamat unlocking the visitors' defence soon after the restart when he played a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Feras Al-Brikan, the striker fizzing a ball across the face of goal from which Saud Abdulhamid shot wide. Al-Shamat continued to cause problems for the visitors but Jalal Hassan threw himself to his left to keep out a goal-bound strike six minutes after the restart. Hassan then denied Saudi captain Salem Al-Dawsari as the opportunities increased in regularity, with Nasser Al-Dawsari also frustrated by the Iraqi goalkeeper in the 63rd minute. A last-ditch tackle by Hassan Al-Tambkti stopped Iraqi forward Mohanad Ali on a rare sortie forward 15 minutes from time while Abdulkareem went closest of all for his team deep into injury time. However, his curling left-foot free kick from 25 yards out was pushed to safety by Al-Aqidi when he dived to his right and the Saudis prevailed to qualify for a seventh World Cup since making their debut in 1994. (Production: Stefan Haskins)

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