Saudi Arabia beat Iraq to reach semifinals of 2022 Arab Cup U-17

 Saudi Arabia on Friday reached the semifinals of the 2022 Arab Cup U-17 after beating Iraq 4-1 at Mohamed Bensaid Stadium in the Algerian port city of Mostaganem.

The Young Falcons will now meet Algeria on Monday, the hosts having beaten Tunisia 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 on Thursday night.

Saudi’s goals against Iraq came via a hat-trick from Talal Haji and Nawaf Al-Jadaani’s equalizer after Iraq had taken a fifth-minute lead through Hassan Jassim.

The other quarterfinals saw Yemen beat Sudan 1-0 on Thursday and Morocco overcome Egypt 2-0 the following night. The two winners will now meet in the second semifinal on Monday night.

Saudi Arabia had reached the quarterfinals after a 6-0 win over Lebanon at Mohamed Bensaid Stadium on Tuesday left them second in Group D behind Egypt.

Haji had scored his first hat-trick of the tournament while strikes from Farha Al-Shamrani, Ammar Al-Yahibi and Nawaf Al-Bishri completed the rout against Lebanon.

Earlier in the tournament, Saudi Arabia had lost 3-0 to Egypt and beaten Syria 4-3.