We should have scored more, says Almoez
STRIKER Almoez Ali believes Al Duhail SC should have registered a more convincing victory against UAE’s Sharjah in their 2020 AFC Champions League Group C tie on Tuesday.
The Qatar champions registered their second win in the group with the 2019 AFC Asian Cup top scorer opening the scoring before Rami Rezaeian added the second with Igor Coronado pulling a goal back for Sharjah from the penalty spot.
While Ali stressed that getting the three points was important, he said Al Duhail’s superior performance meant they should have scored more goals at the Education City Stadium.
“We had a great performance and were the better side,” said Ali. “It was very important for us to win the match in order to increase our chances of qualifying to the next stage.
“Sharjah are the UAE champions and they are a strong team but we could have scored more goals. However, this match is over and we must focus on the next (against Sharjah again on Friday).”
Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani said the UAE side were punished for their mistakes.
“We didn’t have a good performance at all in the first half,” said Al Hosani. “However, we improved in the second half and created several scoring chances but failed to convert them. We must not make that mistake again.
“Our performance, in general, was not as what we had expected. We should prepare better for the next match and fix the mistakes that we made tonight.”
The defeat means Sharjah are still in search of their first win, with the UAE side rooted at the bottom of the Group C standings on one point.
Al Duhail, with six points, are second with Saudi Arabia’s Al Taawoun leading the standings and Islamic Republic of Iran’s Persepolis FC (four) third.