Watch the moment Iraqi striker Aymen Hussein is given a RED CARD for mocking Jordan’s players with bizarre ‘grass-eating’ celebration in Asian Cup clash… before his side are eliminated by two injury-time goals
- Aymen Hussein was sent off for mocking Jordan’s players during his celebration
- He had given Iraq a 2-1 lead, but they conceded two late goals and lost the match 3-2
- I sympathize with Erik ten Hag. He gets no control. We all know how this ends… It all starts
Iraq’s Aymen Hussein was shown a red card on Monday for a bizarre ‘grass-eating’ celebration in his side’s dramatic 3-2 defeat to Jordan in the Asian Cup.
Jordan took the lead in the round of 16 in first-half stoppage time before Iraq hit back with two goals in eight minutes to turn the match in their favor.
Hussein scored the second of their goals in the 76th minute, firing the ball into the bottom corner before jumping over the billboards to celebrate, but he did not go into the crowd.
When he came back onto the pitch, he sat down and appeared to pretend to eat the grass, mimicking the same celebration that Jordan’s players performed when they scored in the first half.
After doing this for a few seconds, he got up to return to the halfway line, but was immediately confronted by referee Alireza Faghani, who showed him a second yellow card and a subsequent red card for his celebration.
Aymen Hussein (left) performed a bizarre ‘grass-eating’ celebration after scoring for Iraq
Hussein was left stunned after receiving a red card from the referee for his celebration
Hussein appeared to mock Jordan’s celebration, and they carried it out in the first half and then again after booking their place in the Asian Cup quarter-finals.
Hussein could not believe the referee’s decision but had to leave the field to watch the rest of the match from the sidelines as his team tried to maintain their lead to progress to the quarter-finals.
But Jordan made the most of their extra player in the closing stages of the match, equalizing through Yazan Al-Arab in the 95th minute, before Nizar Al-Rashdan scored the winning goal two minutes later.
Jordan’s side resumed their ‘grass-eating’ celebrations after the final whistle, while Iraq manager Jesus Casas remained furious over the referee’s controversial decision to send off Hussein.
“The red card changed the course of the match,” he said.
Iraq manager Jesus Casas was furious with the referee’s decision to send Hussein off the field
‘In every major tournament, players always celebrate scoring. The referee cannot give a red card for this.
“We all saw Jordan celebrating the same way and no card was given. The timing of the red card stopped us from making defensive changes as we had already made changes.”
Hussein scored six goals in four matches at the Asian Cup as Iraq won all three group matches against Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam.
But they now head home from the tournament, while Jordan marches on. They will face Tajikistan in the quarter-finals on Friday.