Sharjah overcame Al Ain in a marathon penalty shoot-out 13-12 after a 1-1 deadlock to win the President’s Cup for the second successive year at the Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani was the hero on the night, making the vital save by blocking Matias Palacios’s spot kick for his side to win a tenth title and share the record with Shabab Al Ahli as the most successful club in the history of the competition.
After a cautious first half by both teams, Sharjah broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half. Mohammad Abdulbasit headed home a corner past Al Ain keeper Mohamed Bu Sanda from former Barcelona midfielder Miralem Pjanic.
However, their joy lasted only seven minutes as Al Hosani’s diving save on a low shot from Andrii Yarmolenko ricocheted off Kodjo Laba to the back of the net for the equaliser.
That was minutes before Al Hosani did well to push out a powerful strike from Yarmolenko over the crossbar.
Marcus Vinicius nearly pulled back the game for Sharjah. His dipping long-range effort bounced off the bar, while at the other end, Palacios’s shot from outside the area also bounced off the bar with a minute left.
Al Ain had an opportunity sent wide of the far post by Soufian Rahimi and Konstantinos Manolas's flanking header off a corner from Pjanic went wide of the far post in the cautious first half.
“I worked with these players for the last 18 months and they grew their personalities and they could do so many things which they proved tonight,” Sharjah manager Cosmin Olaroiu said of his team.
“We have a lot of things to improve and I think we can be better than what we did tonight. The 14 penalties from each side was crazy. No coach wants to be in this situation.
“After the regulation time, I told my players, 'We are going to win the cup.' I didn’t want to go for the penalties. In fact, I replaced a defender with an attacker to win the game, but unfortunately, we couldn’t score.”
As one of the most successful managers in the UAE, Olaroiu has now won two President’s Cups, four Pro League titles, five Super Cups, two League Cups and runner-up trophy in the Asian Champions League.
Joining his Romanian manager in winning the President’s Cup for the second time was Caio Lucas, who converted both his spot kicks.
“It’s amazing to win the trophy for the second time and it’s the best gift we can present to our fans,” the Brazilian said.
“The spot kicks may have been tense for everyone watching but for me, as a player, we were confident. It was a long wait but we did it in the end. It was a great performance from the team.”
