Wahda make exit from ACC
abu dhabi — Al Wahda were eliminated from the Arab Club Championship following 2-0 Group A loss to Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo on Tuesday night.
Goals from midfielders Amr Barakat and Islam Mohareb handed the Abu Dhabi club their second loss of the tournament. Before the start of the tournament, newly appointed coach coach Laurențiu Reghecampf had said the trip to Cairo was an apt opportunity to know his team in a better way and get the players in shape for the Arabian Gulf League season. However, the team tried to reach the semifinals stage but failed on all counts. The team finished with 10 players in both the matches.
On Tuesday night, Al Ahly, in search of three points, started with an all-out attacking style of play whereas Al Wahda were happy to sit back and defend, and score when an opportunity existed.
However, Reghecampf ’s strategy suffered a major setback as early as sixth minute with an injury to Hamdan Al Kamali. He was replaced by Mohammed Abdulbasit. And within minutes, ‘Red Devils’ had their first attack on goal through Ahmed Hamoudi but Al Wahda defence thwarted the attempt. In the 11th minute, Hossam Ghaly’s header hit crossbar. It was an intriguing contest with Al Ahly players persistently hunting in search of goals against a stubborn Al Wahda defence.
However, Al Ahly managed to break visitors’ resistance in the 32nd minute through a powerful finish inside the box by Barakat. Once again the attempt coming through a corner saw Barakat curl the ball into the left corner and beyond keeper Mohamed Al Shamsi’s reach. Eight white shirts were in the 18-yeard area when Barakat scored a stunner.
And the home team continued to maintain the momentum with more attacks. The only positives for Al Wahda in the first 45 minutes came when Balazs Dzsudzsak tested Al Ahly goal with a longrange effort.
After the break, Al Wahda approach changed as Reghecampf shifted from a defensive strategy to an attacking one. And it almost paid dividend but for an alert keeper in Mohamed El Shenawy, who thwarted attempts from Dzsudzsak. Luck was certainly not with Al Wahda on the night. And things got worse for the visitors as they were down to 10 men. In the 60th minute, Khalil Ibrahim was shown a second yellow.
He had previously got a booking in the 44th minute.
With a man advantage, Al Ahly switched into cruise mode and went on offensive. Al Ahly coach Hossam El-Badry made some top choices with his substitutes with Mido Gaber coming in for Ahmed Hamoudi. Gaber had two decent chances go begging. But the home side finally went ahead. With eight minutes left, Mohareb scored to double the advantage and sealed the match for Al Ahly.
With the win, Al Ahly remain alive in the tournament and now face Algeria’s NA Hussein Dey to grab best runner-up berth. Al Wahda, meanwhile, had lost their first match against NA Hussein Dey 2-0 and now face group leaders Al Faisaly in their last match on Friday.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com
Teams