An unusual event occurred this Monday in the Asian Cup and it featured the Iraq striker, Ayman Hussein, who had scored a great goal in the 76th minute for the partial 2-1 victory over Jordan in the round of 16, but his celebration eating grass cost him an expulsion. Of course, the footballer did not believe what happened, and after his departure the rival team made a comeback and qualified for the next round.
Of course, this generated discomfort in the Iraqi team, and Jesús Casas, the coach, regretted the different treatment that his team received due to the expulsion of one of his players, Ayman Hussein, suspended during the match against Jordan in the Asian Cup for celebrate a goal in a similar way to that of their rivals in another game in which no one saw a yellow card.
Ayman had to leave the field of play in that round of 16 match in the 78th minute, when he put his team ahead (he made it 2-1) and celebrated on the ground, sitting cross-legged and pretending to eat something with a hand. Previously, in the first half, up to four Jordanian players did exactly the same celebration when they scored 0-1 and none were cautioned.
Afterwards, the Spanish coach Jesús Casas criticized that the match referee did not treat the two teams equally when making a decision that affected the development of the match, since Jordan, in added time, came back with one more man and won 2-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
Aymen Hussein eating grass – Photo:
Screenshot
“In any big tournament the players always celebrate a goal. The referee cannot give a red card for that. We all saw Jordan celebrate in the same way and they did not see a card. The expulsion prevented us from making defensive substitutions because we had already made changes” , he highlighted in statements collected by the Iraqi Football Federation.
However, Casas acknowledged that Iraq was not at its best level in the first half, in which Jordan “took better advantage of the counterattacks,” and assured that his team took control in the second 45 minutes without success because “the red card changed the direction of the game.”