Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Last month, the United Arab Emirates’ Al Ahli became the latest representative from West Asia to reach the AFC Champions League final, and they will attempt to end the drought that has persisted for that half of the continent since 2011 and the crowning of Qatar’s Al Sadd.
After Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia were defeated by Ulsan Hyundai of Korea Republic in the 2012 final, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal were the most recent casualty of the East’s recent dominance as Australia’s Western Sydney Wanderers won the 2014 title.
Replicating Al Sadd’s AFC Champions League final triumph would be one thing, while a repeat of the Qatari side’s mammoth run to AFC Champions League glory that began in the play-offs and lasted for nearly an entire calendar year, is quite another.
Qatar captain Hasan Al Haydos was still a teenager when he took part in the marathon campaign but it’s an achievement that will live long in his memory.
“To be honest, when we started the competition in the play-offs, I never even imagined that we would be able to go all the way and win the AFC Champions League,” recalls Al Haydos.
Not only becoming the first Qatari side to win Asia’s top title in the AFC Champions League era, the men from Doha became the first and to date only side to do so from the play-offs.
“We started in early February and ended in November, we were playing domestic games, national team games and AFC Champions League games at the same time. Many times we were exhausted,” adds Al Haydos, now 24-years-old and his national team’s captain but back then still a teenager breaking into the first team.
Having finished as runners-up in the 2009/10 Qatar Stars League season behind winners Al Gharafa, Al Sadd successfully negotiated the play-offs, which had been introduced to the tournament format two years earlier, with victories over 2010 AFC Cup winners Al Ittihad of Syria and India’s Dempo to secure a place in the group stage.
And Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati’s side were drawn in Group B alongside Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr, Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor and Esteghlal of Iran, with the Qataris securing a 1-1 draw in their opener away to the latter in Tehran.
Narrow home wins over Pahktakor and Al Nassr followed before a 1-1 draw in Riyadh that meant if Al Sadd could secure at least a point against Esteghlal at home they would be assured a spot in the knockout stage with a game to spare.
The visitors, though, were determined to keep the group in the balance and were two goals up at half-time.
Former AFC Player of the Year Khalfan Ibrahim pulled a goal back on 10 minutes into the second half, but with 18 minutes remaining and the deficit enduring, Fossati turned to the bench and signaled to Al Haydos.
“I was angry about being a substitute, I really wanted to make something happen, to score for the team as we were still down,” recalls Al Haydos, who got his opportunity just four minutes after coming on.
“(Brazilian midfielder) Leandro played the ball over to me on the right side. I saw a chance, cut inside into the penalty box, got the ball onto my left and curled it past the goalkeeper.
“I didn’t know at the time it was the most crucial goal I was going to score, that it would mean we qualified for the knockout stage. I just wanted to show I was good enough to start the game.”
Al Haydos duly started the following tie in Tashkent where the 1-1 draw, coupled with Esteghlal’s last-gasp 2-1 win over Al Nassr, was enough for Al Sadd to go through to the Round of 16 as group winners.
A narrow 1-0 win in the one-legged last 16 tie against Saudi side Al Shabab saw Al Sadd meet Iran’s Sepahan in the quarter-finals, where they were awarded a 3-0 win in the first leg after their hosts had fielded an ineligible player.
Any premature ideas of an easy ride were extinguished in the second leg, though, as Sepahan struck twice in the opening half hour.
But with four minutes remaining, Senegal striker Mamadou Niang fired home to send Al Sadd through to the semi-finals following a 4-2 victory on aggregate.
In the final four, Al Sadd met Suwon Samsung of Korea Republic in a contest that was marred by an off-the-ball incident in the first leg that saw the dismissals of Suwon striker Stevica Ristic and Al Sadd’s Abdul Kader Keita and Niang, who had scored the visitors’ second on 81 minutes after Ibrahim’s 70th minute opener.
“After what happened in the first leg, the atmosphere was electric in the second leg in Doha and the Koreans were trying to play very offensively,” says Al Haydos, who made his third start of the campaign.
“They managed to score one goal early which put us under a lot of pressure and we basically had to park the bus in front of goal.”
The 2-1 aggregate score line was enough to put Al Sadd into the final which, unlike the 2009 and 2010 editions when the tournament climax was hosted at a neutral venue, was played at the home of opponents Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, as had been determined by draw.
In front of a club record 41,000 at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonbuk took the lead through Eninho’s free-kick on 19 minutes before Sim Woo-yeon headed past his own goalkeeper from Keita’s cross to make the scores level at the half-hour mark.
Keita then added Al Sadd’s second on the hour mark as Fossati’s side took the initiative.
But deep into stoppage time, Jeonbuk hit back as substitute Lee Sung-hyun turned in a corner at the backpost to dramatically take the final into extra-time.
“When they scored the equaliser, I started to feel that it wouldn’t be our day and after such a late goal maybe it meant Jeonbuk would win,” recalls Al Haydos, who had been on the pitch as of the 74th minute.
“Many others were feeling this way too, but before extra-time, Fossati gathered us together and told us that everyone in Qatar was watching us, and we needed to give everything and make them proud.”
In extra-time, Jeonbuk striker Lee Dong-gook missed a golden opportunity and then the Koreans hit the post after Eninho’s corner struck an Al Sadd defender and bounced off the base of the upright, before goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr denied Jeong Shung-hoon with a magnificent save, as the Qatari side held on for penalties.
Niang and Eninho successfully converted the opening spot-kicks. Next up was Al Haydos.
“Before I walked up to the spot Fossati asked me to not to shoot the ball high and keep it low,” recalls Al Haydos, who blasted his penalty off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.
“I don’t know why I shot high. I thought for a second that maybe it wouldn’t go in but luckily it did.
“Fossati told me afterwards I’d nearly given him a heart attack, but if I had a chance to take it again I would do it exactly the same way.”
Three consecutive misses then gave Al Sadd a slim advantage with Ibrahim Majid and Kim Sang-sik’s successful conversions putting the score at 3-2 that gave Algerian Nadir Belhadj the chance to score the winning spot-kick, which he did, to delirium on and off the pitch for those clad in the white of Al Sadd.
“When the winning penalty went in, I started crying, I just broke down. I was so happy. My mind went to Doha, to my family and my friends, how I knew they would be happy, so I started crying. They were happy tears, for sure,” recalls Al Haydos.
“In the celebration photos you can see that I’m really far to the left on the stage, I just wanted to see what everyone else was doing, how they were reacting. I was trying to work out if I was dreaming or this was real. I couldn’t believe what we had accomplished.
“We had to make sacrifices in the league to do what we had achieved; we couldn’t play with our full force, because we were totally focused on the AFC Champions League. We had to make tough decisions and sacrifices but it ended up being the right choice.”
Photo: WSG