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JEDDAH: ������Ƶ secured a place at the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday with a goalless draw against Iraq in Jeddah in the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers. The hard-fought point was enough to give the Green Falcons top spot in Group B and guarantee their seventh appearance at the finals.

While the majority of the 60,000 or so fans in Jeddah were celebrating at the end, the tense and attritional game was far from an easy watch. As such, it was a reflection of much of the qualification campaign that preceded it.

But few in the crowd cared about any of that as coach Herve Renard, his players and Saudi officials celebrated on the pitch at the final whistle. It was a case of “job done,” with a summer of football on the world stage in North America to look forward to next year.

The Saudis made most of the running in the first half and throughout the game, pinning Iraq back, but creating clear chances proved difficult.

One of the better opportunities came after 14 minutes when Musab Al-Juwayr’s long ball over the top freed Saleh Abu Al-Shamat down the right, but the 23-year-old’s shot was just a little high. Soon after, Salem Al-Dawsari let fly from outside the area but failed to trouble Jalal Hassan in goal.

The closest Iraq would come was when Ibrahim Bayesh had a shot from close range blocked.

Seven minutes before the break, Abu Al-Shamat danced through the defense and burst into the area but, with just the goalkeeper to beat at the near post he elected to square the ball, which allowed the defense to clear.

The second half continued in a similar pattern, with ������Ƶ pushing and probing. Ten minutes in, Abu Al-Shamat forced a flying save from Hassan with a shot from outside the area. Further shots went high and wide, and there was always a worry that Iraq, who were still not really threatening, might sooner or later get that one chance they needed.

With 14 minutes remaining, they launched a rare foray into the home penalty area, with Mohanad Ali twisting and turning in an attempt to get a shot off. When he finally did, however, Hassan Tambakti was on hand to make the block.

Just when it looked as if it was all over, Nawaf Al-Aqidi made a fine save from an Iraqi free-kick in the 94th minute. And that was that.

Few will remember the action on the pitch in this game, but the home fans and players will not forget the feeling of qualifying for another World Cup after a long, exhausting, and not totally convincing, campaign. The really hard work starts now.

The Iraqis, meanwhile, finished second in the group and will face Group A runners-up the UAE next month in a playoff over two legs, the winners of which will advance to the inter-confederation playoffs. Also on Tuesday, the Emiratis lost 2-1 to Qatar, who secured their place at the finals next year.

UDINE: Italy’s 2026 World Cup qualifier with Israel was prefaced by clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police on Tuesday as thousands of people marched through Udine in anger at the hosting of a match they felt should not be played.
The Gaza ceasefire deal signed on Monday and a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas did nothing to dampen the resolve of around 10,000 protesters who descended on the small city in Italy’s far north-east, a small section of whom were involved in disorder at the end of the march.
Over 1,000 police officers and army personnel were deployed while helicopters and drones flew overhead to keep a watch on a demonstration which was kept several kilometers away from the Bluenergy Stadium hosting the Group I fixture.
There was little chance of protesters reaching the stadium as checkpoints were put up in a ring around it, with spectators having to pass concrete barriers and metal detectors in order to watch a match which is key to Italy’s bid to ensure they qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 2014.
The security operation was designed to stop rioting and ensure no-one gets near the ground or the Israel team, but although the march started peacefully in warm autumn sunshine it ended with police using a water cannon and tear gas on some of the marchers who threw rocks at officers.
There was little sign of violent disorder when the march started at around 1800 local time , with the loudest noise the drumming and sound systems accompanying dancing from people of ages, who waved Palestinian flags and banners which read “show Israel the red card.”
“There’s no more bombs and that makes us happy, but the problem with this peace plan is that there is no talk of a Palestinian state,” says Amer Hasan, a 61-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank who has been in Italy since moving to study 42 years ago.
“There’s no talk of self-determination, no talk about the West Bank nor of the fate of Gaza... it seems like Gaza will be governed by Tony Blair and Donald Trump, without any involvement from the Palestinians.
“We shouldn’t be playing this match because a team that represents a nation that has committed a genocide is playing.”
Hasan is a representative of Palestinian communities in the regions of Veneto and Fruili-Venezia Giulia, who with four other associations organized Tuesday’s march and welcomed more than 340 activist groups from all over Italy.

They all ask that football’s world governing body FIFA exclude Israel from international competition, as happened with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and were among the hordes of people chanting slogans like “Free Palestine” and “Genocidal Israel.”
More than 67,869 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched a military offensive in response to a brutal cross-border assault carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Almost all of the more than two million civilians who lived there before the war have been driven from their homes at least once.
There is anger in Italy over the country’s football federation  refusing to entertain a boycott of matches with Israel, unlike Football Association of Norway  whose head Lise Klaveness, recently said Israel should be sanctioned.
“The Norwegian FA has begun taking a position against the presence of Israeli teams, there’s a totally different type of behavior across the board compared to what you see here ,” said Carlina, an activist from Udine Committee For Palestine who helped organize the march.
And some of that frustration was on show just before kick-off, when a large section of Italian fans loudly booed the Israeli national anthem.
That booing was quickly drowned out by applause from the rest of those present in the ground, including the small pocket of Israeli fans.
Officially the attendance for the match was 10,000 but it looked and sounded much less in the stands, with huge swathes of empty seats across all four stands of the 25,000-capacity stadium.