LAHORE, Oct 23: Four breath-taking goals by brilliant midfielder Mahdi Karim Ajeel propelled Iraq to a thumping 7-0 win over Pakistan in the World Cup qualifier at the Punjab Stadium on Monday night.

It was Asian champion Iraq’s seventh consecutive win over four-time SAF gold medallist Pakistan.

With the hero of Asian Cup 2007 Younis Mahmoud nursing a thigh injury, coach Olsen asked Nashat Akram Ali to wear captain’s armband. It was Nashat who opened the floodgates in the 18th minute off Muhamed Karrar’s pass.

Five minutes later, Abbas Ahmed provided a superb pass to Mahdi who did the rest for his first goal of the night. The 2-0 lead remained intact till the first half.

The second session was completely dominated by the visitors as they added five more goals. Mahdi hammered his second when his drive deflected off Shahzad and landed into the net in the 49th minute. The 61st and 62nd minute saw Abbas missing two close chances of scoring.

Iraq enhanced the lead to 4-0 in the 71st minute when Jasim Al Hamd met Mahdi Ajeel’s left wing corner and headed the ball into the right corner.

Substitute striker Emad Ridha struck another goal in the 83rd minute.

Mahdi then completed a well-deserved hat-trick in the 88th minute after a curling left-wing cross of Taher. His header was too good for Pakistani defenders and Shahzad. Mahdi completed the rout in the dying moments of the game when he capitalized on a through pass of Ridha to complete his fourth goal.

Under the captaincy of two-time SAF Games gold medallist Muhammad Essa, Pakistan failed to impress in the match and were completely outplayed by the opponents. Pakistan’s five defenders — Naved Akram, Zeeshan Rehman, Tanveer Ahmed, Samar Ishaq and Abbas Ali — could not put up any resistance against Iraqi front-line. Their forwards Essa and Adeel Ahmed looked totally off colour while substitute Imran Niazi also failed to shine.—Sports Reporter