Al Wahda coach Peseiro pleased despite home draw to Al Shabab

Hosts miss several scoring opportunities in Arabian Gulf League match, reports Amith Passela.

Hassan Ibrahim, left, of Al Shabab, vies for the ball with Al Wahda's Damian Diaz in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night. Satish Kumar / The National

ABU DHABI // The opening moments were hardly a precursor of what was to come on Wednesday night at the Al Nahyan Stadium.

Indeed, a defensive blunder saw Al Shabab score the fastest goal in the league so far this season.

A free-kick from Edgar Bruno was misjudged and missed by Al Wahda’s Salem Sultan and Adeilson was quick on the loose ball to score off a sliding effort with the game only 12 seconds old.

But the offence stopped soon enough and the teams finished the Arabian Gulf League match in a 1-1 draw. The Al Wahda coach Jose Peseiro said he would take a lot of positives from the game, despite earning two points from three games he has been in charge.

“Shabab played a good first half and we played a better second half, so it evened out the game,” he said. “But I saw more improvement from my team and as long as they can do that I am happy.

“In the first half, we lost possession every time on the run of play and gave Shabab a lot of space, and they used the counter-attack to good effect.

“We resolved that in the second half and played better.”

The striker Sebastian Tagliabue fired in the equaliser from a clearance that fell in his path, but Wahda missed several scoring opportunities thereafter, particularly in the second half.

“We pressed hard in the last quarter to create many chances but we couldn’t score,” Peseiro said. “I think, still, we played better than the last two games and I hope we can take that momentum forward, and perhaps, win the next game.”

The team’s next game will be against Al Jazira in the President’s Cup round of 16 on Tuesday, an opportunity for the Portuguese manager to avenge a 4-3 defeat in his first game in charge in the Arabian Gulf League on November 23.

Al Shabab manager Marcos Paqueta echoed the sentiments of Peseiro and added it was a fair result with both teams trying very hard to score on either side of the half time. “We had a lot of scoring chances after the early goal, and had we scored again the result could have been different,” the Brazilian said.

“However, we are satisfied with the result and to return with a point. Our objective would be to finish in the top four at the end of the first round matches.”

Adel Al Hosani, the Wahda goalkeeper, made some excellent saves to deny Shabab from scoring again early in the game. He pushed out a dipping shot from Bruno and punched out Azizbek Haydarov’s curling shot from just outside the box with a dive to his left.

Tagliabue had a great opportunity to level the score in the first half, but lost control of the ball when he was one on one with Ismail Rabee, the Shabab keeper.

Tagliabue and Damian Diaz missed a flurry of chances in the second half.