Mauritania established their superior quality early on and took advantage of a first half red card against opponents Yemen on their way to a comfortable 2-0 victory on Wednesday at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. The result means the Lions of Chinguetti advance to the group stage of the main tournament, where they will compete in Group B against Tunisia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
It was a promising start for Mauritania as the 5th minute brought the first opportunity. Greek-based winger Adama Ba unleashed a well struck free kick that forced an excellent save from Yemen keeper Mohammed Khairalah, who pushed Ba’s effort off of the post and out. However, the Yemeni resistance was broken in the 18th minute when Mauritanian captain Abdoul Bâ sent a long ball that was superbly taken down by Ismail Diakhité and finished with class to put Mauritania in the lead.
A VAR check led to the next notable event when Yemeni defender Mudir Abduradu used his hand to control a ball. Determining that Abduradu was the last man and that his hand denied a clear goal scoring opportunity, the referee gave the defender a red card to reduce Yemen to ten players. From then on the Yemeni side found it difficult to create chances and in the 85th minute, Hemeya Tanjy’s low shot squeezed under Khairalah and bounced high into the net to wrap up the match.
A match report is below from Arab News in the link and a link to the YouTube page featuring highlights is further below.
