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The Lebanese national team kicked off the West Asian Women’s Football Championship with a hard-fought victory over Guam, with four goals to three in Group A.
Layla Iskandar, a professional player in the Saudi league, scored a hat-trick, including a goal in the last minute of second-half stoppage time, to secure the team’s first win of the tournament.
Course of the Match
The team from the island of Guam scored two goals in the ninth and seventeenth minutes, after two defensive errors by the Lebanese team, to end the first half of the match with this result.
The Lebanese entered the second half with great concentration and scored the first goal three minutes into the half through Layla Iskandar.
The equalizer came in the seventy-fifth minute through Christy Maalouf, with a magnificent shot that found the back of the net.
The Guam Islanders then scored a third goal in the ninety-fifth minute.
The lead only lasted five minutes, with Layla Iskandar equalizing with a direct free-kick into the back of the net.
The same player came back to score her third personal goal and her team’s fourth in the dying seconds of the match.
Tournament at a Glance
A milestone for women’s football in Saudi Arabia, the WAFF 2024 Women’s Championship is being held in the coastal city of Jeddah from February 19 to 29, and the eighth edition will welcome eight teams.
The tournament will also mark Saudi Arabia’s first participation in the WAFF Women’s Championship and the first under new coach Luis Cortes in Group A with Lebanon, Guam and Jordan, while Group B will see Palestine, Nepal, Syria and Iraq battle it out for the two qualifying tickets. It should be noted that the Nepalese national team and the Guam national team have been invited to the tournament.
The teams are divided into two groups of four in the group phase, followed by the semi-finals and final, to be held at the King Abdullah Sports City and Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City stadiums.
The Importance of Hosting the Event
Lamia bint Ibrahim bin Bahian, Vice-President of the Saudi Football Federation and Chairwoman of the Women’s Commission of the West Asian Football Federation, welcomed the teams, underlining the Kingdom’s central role in promoting women’s football.
Khalil Al-Salem, General Secretary of the West Asian Football Federation, praised the high level of competition and organization of the tournament, thanking the Saudi Federation for its support in promoting women’s football in the region.
