On his personal page, Aymen Hussein shared: “I don’t understand what happened. The moment of saying goodbye to the Asian Cup was harsh. It was not the ending we wanted. Our dream was far away, while the ambition was still there. They stole the dream of the Iraqi team in front of the world audience. I apologize to all Iraqi fans.”
Aymen Hussein was sent off for... celebrating
The match between Iraq and Jordan ended on the night of January 29, but the controversy has not yet subsided. There are many conflicting opinions about the second yellow card that referee Alireza Faghani gave to Aymen Hussein, after the Iraqi striker celebrated.
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With the score at 1-1, Aymen Hussein was the one who scored a beautiful goal, helping the Iraqi team take a 2-1 lead in the 76th minute. At this time, Hussein was very excited and ran to the corner of the field to "enact" the celebration of the Jordanian players. Immediately after that, this striker wearing the number 18 shirt received a second yellow card.
Jordan player's unique celebration
The referee decided to expel the Iraqi striker, who was considered to have provoked his opponent, from the match. This was also the biggest turning point of the match, when Jordan took advantage of their advantage of having one more player to score two goals in extra time and qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2023 Asian Cup.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary Committee is likely to investigate Aymen Hussein's actions. Meanwhile, the Iraq Football Federation has also filed a complaint against referee Alireza Faghani to the AFC.
The moment Aymen Hussein "mimicked" his opponent's eating act, was considered a provocative act by the referee.
Whatever the AFC’s next move, Iraq cannot change the outcome of the match. Referee Alireza Faghani’s decision will go down as one of the most controversial moments in Asian Cup history.
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