A decisive goalless draw between Iraq and Kuwait in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers

The Iraqi and Kuwaiti national teams achieved a goalless draw in the match that took place yesterday evening at Jaber International Stadium, as part of the activities of the second round of the third round in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

A goalless draw between Iraq and Kuwait With this goalless draw in the Iraq-Kuwait match, Kuwait raised its score to two points in this draw, while the Iraqi national team reached the fourth point, thus moving up to the top of the standings, jointly with Jordan and South Korea, in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers .

The match witnessed the absence of the Iraqi striker Ayman Hussein due to his injury, and the Iraqi team played with only 10 players since the 7th minute of the match after its defender, Rabin Sulaka, was sent off for obstructing the Kuwaiti striker, Yousef Nasser.

Kuwait vs Iraq match details The Kuwaiti team led the match through possession, and because the Iraqi team retreated to defend to compensate for the numerical deficit, but this possession did not translate into real scoring opportunities in the first half. On the other hand, the set pieces that the guests shot posed a major threat to goalkeeper Suleiman Abdul Ghafoor’s goal.

Kuwait coach Pizzi relied on an attacking formation that included Mohammed Daham and Yousef Nasser in the lead, accompanied by Ahmed Al-Dhafiri, Faisal Zayed, Reda Hani, and Sultan Al-Enezi in defense. Mishari Ghannam, Khaled Ibrahim, Fahad Al-Hajri, and Sami Al-Sanea played, with goalkeeper Suleiman Abdul Ghafoor behind them.

For his part, the Spaniard Casas led the Iraqi national team squad, which included goalkeeper Jalal Hassan, Zaid Tahseen, Mirjas Doski, Rabin Sulaka, Mustafa Saadoun, Ahmed Yahya, Amir Al-Ammari, Ibrahim Bayesh, Youssef Al-Amin, in addition to Zidane Iqbal and Ali Al-Hamadi.

In the second half, the Kuwaiti team had a chance to advance after the Japanese referee awarded a penalty kick, but he reversed the decision after reviewing the VAR technology. The Kuwaiti coach tried to revitalize his ranks by making offensive substitutions such as Eid Al-Rashidi and Moaz Al-Aseima, but the Iraqi team was able to maintain its solid defense to come out with a valuable draw point.