Palestine, Egypt, Oman, Morocco qualify for 2023 Arab Beach Football Championship semis

RIYADH: Palestine will face Egypt while Oman play Morocco after the four teams on Thursday qualified for the semifinals of the Arab Beach Football Championship, being held in Saudi Arabia. The competition, which began on May 11, has been organized by the Arab Football Association and hosted by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in Jeddah, and ends on Saturday. In the first game, the Saudi national team’s three goals were not enough to defeat the Palestinians who netted five to secure a place in the semifinals.

Naji Al-Nahhal scored a brace for Palestine, while teammates Fadi Jaber and Thaer Abu Obeida bagged one each. The fifth was an own goal scored by Saudi Arabia’s Ramzi Dakman. Meanwhile, Mohammed Al-Ajmi, Majid Shahmani, and Yahya Al-Tamihi were the Saudi scorers.

The second quarter-final match played on Thursday, saw Egypt overcome Mauritania 8-3 to qualify for the next stage of the tournament. Abdelrahman Al-Shafei and Haitham Mahsoub both scored two while Al-Hussein Ali, Mustafa Shaaban, Mohammed Hassan, and Ahmed Suleiman managed a goal each. Sheikh Belkhir, Mohammed Jallow, and Abdel-Latif responded for Mauritania.

The third match was an edgy and highly competitive game with Oman emerging as narrow 5-4 victors over the UAE. Omani players Yahya Al-Muraiki, Sami Al-Blushi, Khaled Al-Araimi, Abdullah Al-Souti, and Meshaal Al-Araimi were their team’s scorers, while Ahmed Beshr got two goals, and Ali Mohammadi and Abdullah Dahfani one each, for the Emiratis. Morocco edged Libya out of the championship with a 5-2 win in the remaining quarter-final game.