The suffering of the Arab teams in the first round of the 2026 World Cup was not limited to the absence of victories, but extended to a remarkable phenomenon represented by the scoring of 3 own goals against different Arab teams.
The opening round saw the participation of eight Arab teams, half of which came out with a draw, while the other half suffered a loss, but the common denominator in a number of these results was own goals, which played an influential role in determining the fate of the matches.
The Egyptian national team was the first to be affected by this phenomenon, after defender Mohamed Hany scored an own goal during the match against Belgium .
Although the Pharaohs managed to come away with a valuable point after a 1-1 draw, the own goal deprived them of a victory that was within their grasp.
In Group 9, Iraqi striker Ayman Hussein had an exceptional and contradictory match, as he scored his country's only goal against Norway, before becoming the scorer of the last goal of the match when he scored an own goal , ending the encounter with a 4-1 loss for the "Lions of Mesopotamia".
As for Jordan, which is participating in the World Cup for the first time in its history, it suffered a painful blow against Austria after the score was tied 1-1.
Defender Yazan Al-Arab scored an own goal in the 76th minute , giving Austria the lead before they added a third goal from a penalty kick in stoppage time to end the match 3-1.
Thus, the first round witnessed three own goals scored by Arab players against their own national teams, the highest tally for Arab teams in a single round in the current edition of the tournament.
Despite this difficult start, the opportunity remains for the Arab teams to correct their course in the next two rounds, especially since four teams still hold positions that temporarily qualify them for the round of 32, while the rest of the teams seek to compensate for their losses and return strongly to the qualification race.
