Jazira held goalless by Saudi’s Al Fateh
abu dhabi – Al Jazira threw everything in its machinery but couldn’t eke out a goal against Saudi side Al Fateh in the AFC Champions League Group B match at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Monday night.
Both the halves had everything barring goals as the match ended in a draw. Al Jazira coach Henk ten Cate paraded the potent combo of Ali Mabkhout and Mbark Boussoufa from the start. The intent was there to grab all three points. However, goal – the only commodity that could ensure victory were missing. There were sundry occasions when stars – Mabkhout and Boussoufa – set goal scoring passes for each other. Striker Ahmed Al Attas also had share of misses. The tussle in the midfield was also very physical, tactical and engaging.
Against Al Jazira’s grind, Al Fateh midfielder Hamed Al Hamed had a golden chance go begging as Al Jazira keeper Khaled Al Senani produced a breathtaking save.
After the break, Al Jazira’s Mohamed Fawzi was proactively involved in the offenses, midfielder Khalfan Mubarak hared down the hill and won difficult challenges.
Despite best efforts and coordination there were no goals. In the 64th minute the stadium did came to life as Al Fateh midfielder Ali Al Zaqaan, on the attack, went down after his jersey was pulled by Boussoufa. Referee played on and Zaqaan took his boot out in protest. One incident led to another and soon Fawzi was involved in spat with Tawfiq Buhimed near the players’ dugout. Just when game was getting pedestrian these two incidents reignited things.
Striker Aílton Almeida replaced Attas as Al Jazira continued to press forward in search of goal. And in dying stages, Almeida could have made the difference but he was late on an attack. Al Fateh keeper Ali Al Mazyadei had a fantastic game handling so many Abu Dhabi posers.
If churning out beautiful passes, keeping possession and relentless attacks had any merit then Al Jazira would have won hands down.