CISM World Football Cup: Oman to meet Mali for a place in semis

1/23/2017 1:00:44 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Hosts Oman survived a French scare on Friday night when they rallied from a goal down to edge past France 3-2 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (SQSC) to book a place in the quarterfinals of the second CISM World football Cup 2017.

The scrappy win, however, helped last edition's runner-up finish as Group A topper with seven points from three games to set up an showdown with Mali on Tuesday for a place in the semifinals.

Mali was held to a goalless draw by Qatar in their concluding Group C match at the Seeb Sports Stadium on Saturday.

Qatar finished top of the group with seven points and will face Bahrain in the quarterfinals. Mali was runner-up with five points while Ireland, which routed US 6-1 on Saturday was third and bowed out of the event along with US.

Oman won two of its group games against Guinea (5-1) and France respectively and was held by Bahrain (1-1) to finish two points ahead of Bahrain.

Oman players celebrate a goal against France on Friday (Muscat Daily)

Guinea (2) and France (1) failed to advance from Group A. Bahrain held Guinea 1-1 on Friday. Algeria topped Group B with three consecutive wins to collect nine points and advance to the last-eight stage along with Germany that edged North Korea to take the second spot with four points. The Koreans had three while Iran had just one.

On Friday, Algeria beat North Korea 2-1 and Germany played a goalless draw with Iran. At the SQSC, Oman was given an early shock when France's Kevin Yannick Dumontant capitalised on a defensive lapse from the hosts to blast a volley past Oman goalkeeper Faiz al Rusheidi in the sixth minute.

Stung by the reverse, Oman fought well to get the equaliser in the next quarter when Said Obaid found the net with a diving header after the French keeper had palmed a long-range shot.

Buoyed by the equaliser, the hosts, coached by Muhanna al Adawi, took the lead in the 27th minute when Saud al Farsi scored and the striker got his second goal in the 35th minute to put Oman 3-1 up.

France reduced the margin with two minutes left for the final whistle through Jean Philippe Neant Sabo.

Also on Saturday, Syria held Egypt to a 0-0 draw in a Group D match and Poland trounced Canada 6-1 to complete the league rounds.

Syria will now take on Germany in a last-eight game while Egypt will meet Algeria in the other quarterfinal. All the quarterfinal matches will be played on Tuesday.

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