(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) A spirited fightback from Oman saw Yaqoub al Sabahi's boys rally back from a goal down twice in the second half to secure a 2-2 draw against Jordan in their AFC U16 Championship Malaysia 2018 Group B tie at the MBPJ Stadium in Selangor on Monday.
The draw kept both the teams along with North Korea in the hunt for a place in the knockout stage.
In a late game on Monday, North Korea edged past Yemen 1-0 to collect three points and share the lead with Oman with four points each. Jordan has two points and Yemen is out of reckoning after its second successive loss.
Oman's Qusai al Jaradi - who scored both the goals in his team's 2-0 win against Yemen - had speed on his side but he was no threat to the Jordanian backline as they limited his movements and quickly cleared the ball from danger.
The score remained goalless at the half-time break.
Three minutes into the second half, the Omani defence cracked under pressure when Issa Khalifan's pass was intercepted by Amer Rasem Jamous who then sent it to Banihani, and the skipper sidestepped two defenders and let loose a left-footed strike past goalkeeper Mitham al Ajmi to break the deadlock.
Trailing by a goal, Sabahi's charges showed determination in their runs, and six minutes later, a string of passes between Jaradi and Omar al Salti flustered the Jordanian defenders, which allowed Omar to break through the backline, outmuscle Bashar Yaseen before driving the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to equalise.
Jordan was handed a golden opportunity, when Oman's Hamed al Mukhaini fouled Jamous inside the box in the 74th minute, and Jamous converted the spot-kick to regain Jordan lead.
Oman's Nasser al Naabi replaced Tariq al Mashari in the 82nd minute, and after less than five minutes on the pitch, he found the back of the net when the Jordanians failed to clear the ball from the box and the substitute capitalised on the confusion to level the scores.
Jordan will next face Yemen, while Oman take on North Korea on Thursday.
Speaking after the match, Sabahi said, 'From the beginning we knew the game was not going to be easy, because we know our opponent (Jordan) is a very tough team.
'I'm not that happy with our performance in the first half, but playing against Jordan is not easy. In the second half, we did better and I am very happy about that.'
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