AL WAHDA 1 SHARJAH 1
Al Wahda - Tagliabue 03'
Sharjah - Khamis 42'
Man of the match - Mohammed Yousuf (Sharjah)
ABU DHABI // Jose Peseiro, the Al Wahda coach, was furious in the dugout after Sharjah scored the equalizer following a silly defensive mistake with four minutes left until the break.
Perhaps the Portuguese knew that his team had thrown away the advantage at a critical period, and that is exactly how the game ended, in a 1-1 stalemate Friday night at the Al Nahyan Stadium.
Sebastian Tagliabue gave the home side a third-minute lead, but Ahmed Khamis cancelled it shortly before the break. Wahda were also unlucky when Ismail Matar’s effort crashed against the crossbar eight minutes from time.
“I was upset at that time because we allowed Sharjah to come back, but that was only at the spur of the moment and I have already forgotten that incident because mistakes happen in any game,” Peseiro said of his reaction after Sharjah scored the equalizer.
“I am, of course, not very happy with the result, because we created several scoring chances, but couldn’t convert them to goals. Having said that, we must also understand Sharjah are a team with the best defensive record.”
Indeed, Sharjah have surrendered only 17 goals in 19 league matches.
Paulo Bonamigo, the Sharjah coach, was satisfied to return with a point for his team to consolidate their fourth position in the Arabian Gulf League table.
“It was not a bad result for us, considering Wahda had come to this game after a win over Al Ain,” he said.
“They scored an early goal to apply the pressure on our team, but we managed to score the equalizer before half time and that equalizer allowed us to return on level terms in the second half.
“We changed our strategy in the second half from our short-passing game to a more defensive strategy, because Wahda played a more attacking game. We used the counter-attack well and created a few chances.”
Wahda took the lead from their very first move. Damian Diaz worked his way through the Sharjah defence before setting up Tagliabue with a close-range shot at the goal.
The Argentine forward had an opportunity to double the lead, but his powerful shot from inside the box flew over the crossbar.
When it looked like the home side would go into the break with that lead, the Wahda centre back Hamdan Al Kamali made a bad judgment that allowed Ahmed Khamis to score the equalizer.
Salem Khamis floated a free kick and Al Kamali made no attempt to go for it. Ahmed Khamis picked up the loose ball that fell between the centre-back and the goalkeeper Ali Al Hosani to fire it to the back of the net.
apassela@thenational.ae
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