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| AFC Champions League |
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| Qadsia commitment impresses Ibrahim |
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| Mohammed Ibrahim |
KUWAIT CITY - Al Qadsia coach Mohammed Ibrahim was full of praise for a strong performance following his side's 3-2 victory over Urawa Reds in the first leg of the AFC Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
Al Qadsia had stunned the defending champions when they took the lead in the 17th minute through Fahed Alebrahim before Edmilson equalised for the J. League side just after the half-hour mark.
But Selim Benachour then lashed in a free-kick 11 minutes into the second session and Khalaf Almutairi secured a memorable victory for the home team when he converted a penalty in the 81st minute.
Edmilson netted both his and Urawa’s second in stoppage time to give the visitors renewed optimism for the second leg in Japan but the late strike did nothing to take the gloss off the victory for Ibrahim.
"This is an excellent result for us," he said.
"Urawa Reds are the defending champions and there is a huge difference between Japanese teams and teams in Kuwait.
"They have lots of professional players and two of them who played today are on the Japanese national team squad.
"So the fact that we were able to provide a challenge for them and the fact that we came off the better side in that challenge is a huge boost for our team."
Ibrahim had fielded a heavily depleted team having lost four of his regular players to suspension and two others to injury and was delighted with the way his side responded in adversity.
"We had to change so many players because of the circumstances,” he added.
"But the ones we fielded today stepped up and shouldered the responsibility.
"It is good for the team because we know that we can count on them.
"It adds strength to our bench."
Despite the victory, Ibrahim underlined he expects a stringent test of his side’s credentials when they travel to Saitama next Wednesday.
"We expect to face another tight contest in the second leg as well,” he said.
"We are sure Urawa Reds will not give in lightly as they are a strong team and a professional team.
"But we will re-double our efforts so that we progress to the semi-final.
"It will be a challenge for us, but we showed today that we can face challenges."
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