Al Sadd edge past Al Faisaly to end on high note; Istiklol triumph
Al Sadd overtook Al Wehdat SC to finish third in Group E on seven points, while Al Faisaly took top spot with nine points, tallying FC Nasaf, who confirmed their place in the Round of 16 as one of three best second-placed teams in the West Zone
Al Sadd SC beat Al Faisaly FC 1-0, courtesy of Pedro Miguel’s second half strike, to conclude their AFC Champions League Group E campaign on a high note on Wednesday.
Al Sadd overtook Al Wehdat SC to finish third in Group E on seven points, while Al Faisaly took top spot with nine points, tallying FC Nasaf, who confirmed their place in the Round of 16 as one of three best second-placed teams in the West Zone.
Al Faisaly had already won the group and booked their place in the Round of 16 the previous night thanks to results in other groups, while Al Sadd had been eliminated ater losing to FC Nasaf 3-1 on Matchday Five.
With litle to lose for either side and no pressure, they produced an entertaining affair with no shortage of chances at either end.
Applying the high press on their opponents, Al Sadd were able to regain possession deep in Al Faisaly’s half and an intricate exchange of passes between Santi Cazorla and Akram Afif saw the later feed Rodrigo Tabata whose attempt to find the botom corner from close range was denied by goalkeeper Ahmed Al Kassar in added time, but there was nothing he could do as Pedro Miguel powered home the rebound for the opener.
Making only his third start of the campaign, AFC Champions League 2018 top scorer Baghdad Bounedjah’s atempts to end the 2022 campaign with a goal to his name saw him come close in the 62nd minute, collecting Cazorla’s pass on the let and curling an effort that was saved by Al Kassar.
Al Faisaly were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the box ater Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb was deemed to have caught a back pass from a teammate. Al Saiary powered an effort ater the initial touch but it cannoned off the crossbar.
Afif and Saiary came close with efforts from inside the box that were saved by the respective goalkeepers in the final 15 minutes as Al Sadd walked away with a consolation win to end their journey on a high and Al Faisaly celebrated a memorable qualification to the Round of 16 despite the defeat.
ISTIKLOL DOWN SHARJAH: Istiklol bowed out of the ACL with a 2-0 win against Sharjah in their final Group A game on Wednesday.
There was litle to play for with both sides down and out, and Sharjah went into this game with a heavily rotated side, although there were injuries such as the one keeper Adel Al Hosani picked up in the previous game which saw his understudy, Darwish Mohamed, get the nod for the stopper’s place.
The Dushanbe-based side took the lead with less than a quarter of an hour on the clock, when Sharjah’s static defence neither atempted to close down atackers or clear the ball, which saw a few shots come in quick succession - the last of which was put in the back of the net by Eric Bocoum with Gustavo atempting to clear off the line but to no avail.
Sharjah’s first atempt on target came 20 minutes later, when Khaled Ebrahim found Ben Malango in the area and crossed the ball for him, with the Congolese forward heading it straight into the hands of Rustam Yatimov.
The UAE Pro League side went into the second half looking for an equaliser, with Marcus Meloni crossing for Malango who had his header blocked, while Salem Sultan had a shot from range yet that too was blocked, with a typically stubborn and structured Istiklol defence comfortable to sit back.
Sultan had an agonisingly close chance to score when Hamad Fahad crossed from deep, with the former heading the ball marginally wide of the post. Seconds later, he had an effort from close range saved when he shot straight at the alert Yatimov.
With time running out, Sharjah upped the ante and Yatimov was forced into a quick reaction save ater Meloni crossed for Malango, with the Congolese striker heading from point blank range but the Tajik keeper stretched and parried it away.