Al Sadaka 6-2 Al Wasl

In the match played at the Panasonic Sports Complex, Al Wasl had a luxury to relax after booking a place in the semi-finals with a match to spare. In contrast, Al Sadaka had to at least take a point to go through after mustering a single point against Naft Al Wasat of Iraq.

The Lebanese were too hot to handle in the beginning and punished the Emiratis in every mistake they made in the first half scoring five first-half goals which featured two nicely taken goals when Al Wasl resorted to power-play.

Al Sadaka the broke the deadlock in the 10^th minute after a good work from Yasser Slaman on the right found Hassan Chaito at the centre for a 1-0 lead.

The pair combined again a minute later and it was Chaito who was the creator as Salman made it 2-0. A long-range effort from Kassem Kawsan put Sadaka 3-0 up and they notched two brilliant long-range goals during the power-play to make it 5-0 in the first half.

Al Wasl staged a mini fight-back in the second half scoring two goals but the first half disaster had already sealed the match in favour of Al Sadaka who will take on Kuwaiti champions Al Salmiya in Tuesday’s semi-final. Al Wasl take on in-form Qatari champions Al Sadd on the same day.

“We were under pressure to win this match and I must give credit to my players for their outstanding show today,” said Al Sadaka coach Hussein Dib. “This win will give us extra motivation for the semi-final and we would start the preparation for Tuesday’s match from tonight,” he added.

Al Wasl’s Portuguese coach Rui Daniel believed that the team’s tiredness was to blame for the disappointing results. “The fixtures allowed Al Sadaka to have a good rest day while we had a difficult match yesterday and played today so the boys were tired,” he said.

“We must improve our game in the semi-final but I hope we will be better for the big tie,” he added.

<strong slick-uniqueid="715">Goals**

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