UAE referee to officiate in Vietnam-Iraq World Cup qualifier match: AFC

UAE referee Omar Al Ali (Photo: thethaovanhoa.vn)

Hanoi – Omar Al Ali, a referee from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will officiate in the final match between Vietnam and Iraq in the second qualifiers of the 2026 World Cup, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced.

The match will take place in Iraq at 9 pm on June 11 (local time). In the first leg at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam lost 0-1 to Iraq.

As the goal scorer of two of the three goal win against the Philippines during the 2026 World Cup qualifier last week, Vietnam's striker Nguyen Tien Linh has been named one of best players by the AFC.

"With only one win from their first four matches, Vietnam looked set to crash out of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, but under new head coach Kim Sang-sik, they defeated the Philippines 3-2 in a thriller to keep their hopes alive in Group F – with Nguyen Tien Linh providing the impetus with a double in the comeback victory," the AFC wrote on its website.

"Linh, who scored eight goals in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and six times in Vietnam's run into the 2022 AFF Championship final, opened his account with the Golden Star Warriors’ equaliser in the 65th minute before planting a towering header past Azkals' goalkeeper Neil Etheridge 11 minutes later."

The win left Vietnam in third place after Indonesia, separated by just one point as they head into their final match against group leaders Iraq.

The second round will conclude with the final set of fixtures on June 12, with only five spots available for teams.

Vietnam need to beat the hosts and wait for the Philippines' to take a win over Indonesia to qualify for the next stage.

Other players that caught the AFC's attention were forward Koki Ogawa (Japan), centre back Husniddin Aliqulov (Uzbekistan), forward Son Heung-min (Republic of Korea), right winger Abdulrahman Al Mushaifri (Oman), forward Yazan Al Naimat (Jordan), forward Behram Abduweli (China) and forward Ali Jasim (Iraq).