Wasl’s ACL return ends in defeat
Al Wasl’s return to the AFC Champions League after a decade ended in defeat, with The Cheetahs going down to Qatar’s Al Sadd at the Zabeel Stadium on Tuesday night.
Algerian striker Baghdad Boundjah turned out to be the super sub for Al Sadd, with the 26-year-old scoring both the goals in their 2-1 win in the Group C fixture.
The Cheetahs had taken the lead through Fabio de Lima on 26 minutes but Boundjah, who had come on for midfielder Salem Al Hajri just before the hour, scored on 79 and 90 minutes for the 2011 champions.
Al Wasl’s only appearance in the continental competition was in 2008, when they were eliminated at the group stage.
This was the first ever meeting between these two teams in the Asian competition. The sides only previous meeting was in the International Friendly Championship for Arab Clubs in 2008, which Al Sadd had won 3-1.
The opening minutes of the game was spent with both the sides coming up with a few sorties but none to write home about.
Al Wasl hit their strides early on and looked the better of the two in the first half. The Cheetahs came close through Ali Salmeen but the midfielder could only drill it over the cross bar on 14 minutes.
Al Sadd first chance of the game came on 26 minutes through Hasan Al Haydos but the striker’s shot from the right, just went wide of the far post.
Al Wasl broke the lead in the same minute following a defensive lapse from Al Sadd. Abdelkarim Hassan messed up a back-pass and Fabio de Lima pounced on it from the right, took a few steps in before tucking his left-footer in the bottom left corner of the net.
The Cheetahs could have added cushion to that lead just two minutes after the restart but Ronaldo Mendes’ left-footer from the left was blocked by goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb.
The game picked up pace just on the hour with Al Wasl and Al Sadd trading a few punches. Caio Canedo came close for Al Wasl but he curled it over the cross bar from the right.
Two minutes later, Jugurtha Hamroun fired it over after the Al Sadd captain Xavi had set it up perfectly after a foray down the left. Hamroun was wayward yet again, shooting it wide of the post on 65 minutes.
Al Wasl shot stopper Sultan Al Mantheri was forced into a double save on 70 minutes and he did well to first keep out a goal-bound bicycle kick from Boundjah and then cleared the rebound.
At the other end, Lima fired it way over the woodwork on 74 minutes.
Al Sadd’s relentless pressure paid off as they cancelled out Al Wasl’s lead with 11 minutes left. Xavi came up with a brilliant chip from the left and Boundjah controlled it with his left foot, turned around and shot home. Television replays showed he might have been a tad off-side.
Xavi almost got them the winner on 85 minutes if not for Sultan Al Manthari’s fine save. But the matchwinner duly came with Boundjah capitalising on a defensive blunder from the towering Abdullah Saleh to stab it home. Al Wasl take on Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf away, in their next game on February 20.
james@khaleejtimes.com