Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Al Ain: A missed retaken penalty cost Al Ain a share of the spoils on Wednesday as Qatar’s El Jaish notched up a 2-1 win over the inaugural champions in the teams’ Group D meeting in the 2016 AFC Champions League.
Abderrazzaq Hamedallah and Romarinho scored for El Jaish in the first half before Douglas’ penalty 25 minutes from time gave the 2003 ACL champions hope of salvaging a draw in front of their own fans.
But an earlier miss from the penalty spot by Douglas – who had been ordered to take his attempt a second time after encroachment by several of his team-mates saw his initial conversion ruled out – meant it was the side from Doha who took all three points.
“I’m extremely happy with the victory because we were playing against a big team,” said El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi. “Winning against a team like Al Ain, who are one of the favourites to win the title, will give us a big push and hopefully we can get more points.
“Even a draw would have been a reasonable result but the players followed the instructions and they gave a good performance. Despite the fact that our players don’t have a lot of experience, they still played with great fighting spirit.
El Jaish claimed the lead with just nine minutes on the clock having already threatened the home side’s goal four minutes earlier when Romarinho’s attempt at goal was kept out thanks to a sharp save by Khalid Eisa using his feet.
But the Al Ain goalkeeper was unable to do much abut the Qatari side’s opener when Romarinho fed the ball down the left to Sardor Rashidov and his cutback, after holding off Mohamed Fawzi, was converted from close range by Hamedallah.
Rashidov and Hamedallah both threatened again while Mohamed Abdulrahman headed wide for the home side as Al Ain cranked up the pressure in the lead-up to the end of the first half.
Mohamed Abdulrahman shot over the bar 10 minutes before the break and Douglas’ downward header two minutes later was pushed to safety by Khalifa Ababacar. From the resulting corner, Mohamed Abdulrahman’s glancing header was well off target.
Those misses were to prove costly as, with barely seconds of the first half remaining, El Jaish doubled their lead. Hamedallah turned provider this time, slipping the ball into the path of Romarinho, who stayed onside long enough to collect the ball before shooting beyond Eisa.
Needing an early goal to pull themselves back into the game, Al Ain started the second half in determined mood. Seven minutes after the restart, Fellipe Bastos smashed his attempt into the side-netting.
Five minutes later, Bastos was brought down in the penalty area by Othman Al Yahri and referee Minoru Tojo pointed to the spot.
Douglas’ first attempt crashed into the roof of the net, but the Brazilian forward was ordered to retake his spot kick after two Al Ain players had encroached into the area. Ababacar was equal to the task this time as Douglas sought to score low to the keeper’s left, only for the custodian to push the ball away.
Douglas, however, was to be given another chance from the penalty spot in the 65th minute after El Jaish conceded another penalty when Khaled Al Zereq brought down Lee Myung-joo, and this time the striker thumped the ball nervelessly into the top corner.
Al Ain pushed for the goal that would level the scores, with Douglas going close again with a header, but it was not enough for Zlatko Dalic’s side to restore parity.
“There is nothing much to say after this defeat,” said Dalic. “We will try our best to fix the mistakes that we made tonight and hopefully we can recover in the next matches in order to achieve our target in the competition.
“This is our second consecutive defeat after losing against Al Shabab in the local league. We played well in the match but we missed many chances while El Jaish knew how to convert their opportunities into goals.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports