AFC Cup: Al Wahda hold Iraqi Al Shorta 0-0

Al-Wahda, the Damascus-based club, were held to a  goalless draw with Iraq champions Al Shorta on Tuesday in the AFC Cup  Group C.

“I’m disappointed for the result as we failed to advance to the knockout stage of the competition,” said Al Shorta coach Lorival dos Santos.

“We couldn’t win today because of the pressure that was on the players and they lacked concentration tonight and missed several chances.

“I told the players that we should be playing with an attacking formation and take advantage of our chances but this didn’t happen. Our opponents played with a defensive performance and we couldn’t score from the opportunities that we created.”

Al Shorta enjoyed the majority of possession in the first half, but the Iraq champions struggled to breakdown a deep lying Al Wahda defence.

The best chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Al Shorta’s Dhurgham Ismaeil after 27 minutes, but after beating the Al Wahda offside trap, he also beat goalkeeper Adnan Al Hafez only for defender Obaida Al Sakka to clear the ball of the goalline.

The Iraqi side continued to dominate in the second half but Al Wahda stood firm and Al Shorta’s frustrations boiled over in stoppage time as Hamdi Al Massri was sent-off after lashing out at Al Sakka, according to the AFC correspondent.

“Our players had a good performance today in spite of the fact that we had already been eliminated from the competition before the match. We put on a good display and we stood firm in front of our opponents who had better players and were more prepared for the match than us,” said Al Wahda coach Raafat Mohammad.

“Despite the big difference between the two sides, we played a good game and we could have scored from the chances that we created but we didn’t have good composure. I believe that we finished the competition well and hopefully the experience that we got will be good for us.”

M.Daoud