Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Abdullah Al Buraiki’s penalty and a late strike by Rogerinho ensured three-time champions Kuwait SC advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2015 AFC Cup with a 1-0 win over Al Shorta from Iraq on Wednesday.
Al Buraiki slotted home his effort 10 minutes from time end of a tight and tense encounter to keep alive the Kuwaiti club’s hopes of a record-breaking fourth continental title before Rogerinho ‘s stoppage-time goal confirmed their progress to the last eight.
Kuwait SC will now go into next month’s draw for the quarter-finals, where they will appear for the fifth season in a row.
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The former champions made the majority of the running in the first half, with Al Buraiki seeing his long-range effort in the sixth minute deflected over the cross bar, while just after the half-hour mark Rogerinho (Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho) flashed his effort from outside the area just wide of the post.
Four minutes from the end of the half, Al Shorta’s Marwan Hussein should have done better than meekly head his effort into the arms of Musab Alkandari when he had time and space to find the back of the net.
Kuwait SC, however, continued to push in the second half and came close in the 65th minute while Hussein fluffed his lines again at the other end, pushing the ball over the bar from close range.
Al Shorta were made to pay in the 80th minute when, after a foul by goalkeeper Mohammed Kassid, Al Buraiki stepped up to score.
And as Al Shorta pushed forward looking for the equaliser, Kuwait SC finished the game off when Brazilian midfielder Rogerinho, the inaugural AFC Foreign Player of the Year in 2012, hit the Iraqis on the break before slipping the ball home.
Photo: WSG