Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Dammam – Fahad Al Muwallad scored three minutes from time as Saudi Arabia overcame a heroic performance by goalkeeper Kurnia Meiga to beat Indonesia 1-0 on Wednesday in their final qualifying match for the AFC Asian Cup 2015.
Meiga frustrated the home side hosts with a series of fine saves at the Prince Mohammed bin Fahad Stadium but he was finally beaten in the closing minutes by Al Muwallad, who got just enough contact on a low cross by Yasir Al Shahrani to turn the ball into the net.
With the narrow victory, the three-time Asian Cup winners rounded out their qualification campaign in fine fashion, taking top spot in Group C with 16 of a possible 18 points.
“We controlled most of the match and we had many scoring chances but we couldn’t score due to several reasons. Indonesia played with a defensive formation and they relied on the counter attacks while the Indonesian goalkeeper was the man of the match,” said Saudi Arabia coach Lopez Caro.
“Our players were tired towards the end of the match which affected our performance. However, we achieved our target from the match which is the victory which helped us to finish the qualifiers on top of the group.”
While they dominated the match in Dammam, the Saudis struggled to find a way past the stubborn defence of the Indonesians, who entered the game with just a single point from five games.
Meiga was in superb form in goal and he frustrated the hosts in the first half by turning aside efforts by Mansour Al Harbi and Taiseer Al Jassam.
The Indonesia goalkeeper grew in stature as the game progressed and he did brilliantly to turn a header effort against his own crossbar before making a superb reflex save to keep out a header by Nassir Al Shamrani.
It seemed that it would not be a good night for the Saudis as Al Shahrani hit the cross bar with his looping header before Yahia Sherhri fired narrowly wide.
But just when it appeared that the Indonesians had done enough to pick up a hard-earned point, the home side finally struck the decisive blow.
Al Shahrani got the ball on the right flank and sent a low cross in the direction of Al Muwallad, who did not get cleanest of contacts with his shot but did just enough to send the ball rolling agonisingly beyond the reach of Meiga.
Despite the disappointment of conceding the late goal, Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl was delighted with his side’s battling performance.
“I’m really proud with the great performance of our players in the match as they gave all their best and managed to surprise their opponents and didn’t lose until the last minutes of the match,” said the Austrian.
“We didn’t play with two forwards because we wanted to close the gaps in the defence. It would have been a different result had we played with two forwards as Saudi Arabia could have scored more goals.”