Saleh Abu Al Shamat had a 13th minute view of goal for the hosts, shooting over the target, while Salem Al Dawsari could not put enough bend on his attempt two minutes later to trouble goalkeeper Jalal Hassan as the Saudis failed to break the deadlock.

It was, however, the home side who had the better of the minimal opportunities in the opening 45 minutes, with Musab Al Juwayr missing the target and Al Shamat seeing another attempt blocked by the Iraqi defence.

Iraq, meanwhile, were struggling to create clear-cut chances with Ibrahim Bayesh and Amir Al Ammari seeing attempts blocked in a frustrating spell in front of goal for Graham Arnold’s side, who needed to win to qualify.

Al Shamat ambled into the Iraqi penalty area with a little more than six minutes left in the half but, rather than shoot, the young Al Ahli forward cut the ball back inside and saw the opportunity squandered.

The Saudis started the second half on the front foot with Al Shamat sliding a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Feras Al Brikan inside the penalty area and the forward’s pass across the face of goal was thumped wide by a despairing Saud Abdulhamid.

 

Al Shamat forced a flying save from Hassan six minutes after the restart, the goalkeeper throwing himself to his left to keep out an effort from 25 yards out. Hassan then denied Al Dawsari at close range as the pressure increased from the home side.

Mohanad Ali launched a rare sortie into the penalty area as the game entered the final 15 minutes but, as he was about to shoot, Hassan Al Tambakhti launched a slide tackle to deny the forward the opportunity to score.

Nawaf Al Aqidi threw himself to his right to keep out Hassan Abdulkareem’s curling free kick deep into injury time and Saudi Arabia’s progress was greeted with a deafening roar.