INTERNATIONAL: Oman secured their passage into the knockout stages of the Arab Cup on Monday after a convincing 3-0 win over Bahrain in their final Group A fixture to set up a quarter-final clash with Group B winners Tunisia.
Both sides came close to scoring early on with Oman hitting the bar through Salaah Al-Yahyawi and Bahrain hitting the post from a Ali Madan header.
Oman eventually opened the scoring with a close-range header by Al-Mandhar Al-Alawi in the 41st minute. They doubled their lead five minutes into the second half with a clinical header by Arshad Al-Alawi. Khalid Al-Hajri scored with a left foot strike in the 59th minute to seal the win.
Both teams came into the final game with a draw against Iraq and a loss to hosts Qatar in their earlier group games.
Oman's fate was out of their control as an Iraq win against hosts Qatar would have seen Iraq qualify in second place to Qatar in the group. But Qatar struck three rapid fire goals in the last 10 minutes to ensure Iraq - the most successful Arab Cup team in the tournament's history with four titles - were eliminated from the competition.
