Al Wahda 1-3 Al Shorta
Sidon: AmjedKalaf notched two goals in as many minutes to lead Iraq champions Al Shorta to their first-ever AFC Cup victory in a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Syrian FA Cup holders Al Wahda on Wednesday.
The Iraq international winger’s quickfire double came on the 57th and 58th minutes after Mohammad Bayouk had put Al Wahda ahead on 30 minutes.
In stoppage time, Mahdi Kareem converted a penalty to give the match a scoreline that reflected the Iraqi side’s dominance in the Group C fixture at SidonMunicipal Stadium.
Although Al Shorta were on top for the opening half an hour, Al Wahda opened the scoring against the run of the play through Bayouk after the forward picked up the ball on the left of the penalty area, shaped to cross and then stepped inside the challenge of the wrong-footed Paul Koulibaly before side-footing past MohammaedKassid.
And Koulibaly was again caught out six minutes later as the Burkina Faso international defender was outpaced by full-back YaserShushara, but had Kassid to thank as the alert custodian smothered the subsequent shot with a diving stop.
In the half-time interval, coach Lorival Santos (LorivalAlves dos Santos) made some tactical changes by moving Kalaf from his usual right flank position into a central attacking role and the move paid almost immediate dividends.
Just 12 minutes following the restart Kareem’s chipped pass found Kalaf inside the penalty area and although his first shot was parried by Mahmoud Karkar, the forward was able to steer his second attempt back on target where an unfortunate Obaida Al Sakka could only help the goal-bound shot into his own net.
And Kalaf only needed another minute to notch his second after he was again found by Kareem with a searing through ball and raced past the Al Wahda backline before clipping a composed finish past Karrar.
Al Wahda struggled to respond to going behind and Al Shorta could have gone further in front when DhurghamDawood’s vicious free-kick on 77 minutes required a superlative flying save from Karrar to prevent the Iraqi side going two goals up.
But in the final minute of stoppage time, Al Shorta substitute Ahmed Fahdil was hauled down inside the penalty area and Kareem duly converted the spot kick to secure a maiden AFC Cup victory.
M.Daoud