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| Muharraq late show delights Sharida |
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| Brazilian striker Rico was instrumental in Muharraq's AFC Cup title triumph. |
MANAMA – Muharraq coach Salman Sharida was naturally delighted after seeing his side virtually book their place in the semi-finals with a 5-0 hammering of Kedah at the Bahrain National Stadium on Tuesday.
The Bahraini champions were frustrated by their Malaysian visitors for over an hour before Khaled Salmeen finally broke the quarter-final first leg deadlock in the 65th minute before Bahrain international midfielder Mahmood Abdulrahman added a second eight minutes later.
Brazilian striker Rico (Leandson Dias da Silva) made it 3-0 on 85 minutes and Fahad Al Hardan added a fourth two minutes later before Abdulrahman netted his second of the game in the second minute of stoppage time.
Sharida said that he never lost faith in his side despite failing to make of their chances in the first 65 minutes.
"It was a good win," said Sharida in the post-match press conference.
"We should have sealed the game early in the first half because we were the better side and we created a lot of chances.
"After missing the chances in the first half I knew that we would score if we continued with the same pressure and we did. Early in the second half things were not promising until we scored the first goal.
"We should give the credit to the young players in the team especially Khaled Salmeen who had a good match and scored the first goal. I wanted to give him a chance to start but I preferred to bring him in the second half because he is inexperienced."
Kedah coach Khor Sek Leng felt that fatigue and his team’s inexperience at this level played a big part in the heavy loss.
"Our players were tired especially in the second half," said Khor.
"They are inexperienced and they have never played such a big and important away match during the holy month of Ramadan before.
"We managed to hold Muharraq in the first half but their strong pressure affected our players who became tired in the second half and we conceded five quick goals in the space of just over 20 minutes."
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