Sporting Kansas City forward Soony Saad helped the Lebanon Men’s National Team to a 2-1 victory over Malaysia in Tuesday’s qualifying match for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
Earning his eighth career cap for the Lebanon senior team, Saad started and played 64 minutes as the Cedars moved five points clear atop Group B. The top two finishers in the group will advance to the AFC Asian Cup, Asia’s quadrennial national team tournament in which Lebanon made its lone appearance in 2000.
Malaysia landed the first punch when Ahalli Bin Jasuli struck two minutes before intermission, but the visitors staged a late rally as halftime substitute Rabih Ataya scored in the 79th and 94th minutes to secure the all-important victory. Lebanon will continue its qualifying campaign on Sept. 5 with a trip to North Korea.
2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifying – Group B
Team |
PTS |
W |
L |
D |
GF |
GA |
GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lebanon |
6 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
+3 |
North Korea |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Hong Kong |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
-2 |
Malaysia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
-1 |
Saad will now return to Sporting Kansas City ahead of Saturday’s MLS regular season match at the San Jose Earthquakes. He will be unavailable for Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup fourth round battle against Minnesota United FC at Children’s Mercy Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT and tickets are available at SeatGeek.com.
