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Saudi side Al Ittihad hold Bani Yas to a goalless draw to qualify to AFC last 16

 

The Saudi visiting team Al Ittihad held Bani Yas to a goalless draw  in their 2012 AFC Champions League 4th round match which was played tonight at Al Shamkha Stadium in Bani Yas Club.

The hosts missed in this encounter the efforts of their Omani star Fawzi Basheir due to injury. They faced their Saudi counterpart with all the hope to snatch full points and raise their balance to seven points in the second group standings, but they failed to make their dreams come true. The Saudi team Al Ittihad won the first leg match held earlier at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah with a solitary goal off a penalty kick scored by Naef Hazazi in the 77th minute. They snatched an invaluable point in today's match to raise their balance to 10 points to secure themselves a berth in the last 16 stage while Bani Yas slipped one step downward to take third position with 5 points, two points behind Bakhtakor of Uzbekistan who have collected seven points following their tonight's win over Al Arabi of Qatar with a solitary goal. The Qatari team are staying at the bottom of the table after losing all four games to remain out of contention.

Bani Yas pressed hard from the very start looking for an early goal and Fareed Ismail was almost to open the score but his close-range volley was deflected by Ridha Takar to a corner only 11 minutes into the game. The visitors also made some dangerous forays but the home team's defenders spoiled all their attempts. The Saudis missed a lovely chance in the 21st minute through the Moroccan player Fawzi Abdul Ghani whose shot was saved bravely by the Bani Yas's goalkeeper Khalid Mohammed Khalaf.

Both sides played with great care in the back line and this was the main reason behind the rare opportunities they created in the first session. Bani Yas concentrated their attacks on the left flank via Fareed Ismail, Nawaf Mubarak and Sultan Al Ghafri but the visiting team's defender Ibrahim Hazazi stood solid on their way while Al Ittihad tried to find the back of the net from both flanks and in most cases they depended on counter attacks with Naef Hazazi fighting alone in the front line. But in the major parts of the game, most of the work of the two teams was concentrated on the midfield zone. The two squads could not score before the breather as their attacks were very weak and therefore a goalless draw was a fair result for the first session.

The two coaches started the second half with the same line ups without making any substitutions. But Al Ittihad's Spanish coach Raoul Kaendiya made the first change in the game when he brought in the Egyptian professional player Hosni Abdu Rabo to replace Hatan Baheir in the 54th minute and the hosts' coach fielded in midfielder Amir Abdul Rahman to play in place of Fareed Ismail three minutes later. Naef Hazazi of Al Ittihad was also pulled out in the 66th minute for Mohammed Rashid to take his position.

The Saudi team continued the same tactics relying on counter attacks trying to come out from this match with a single point while Bani Yas made every bit of effort to snatch full points. Their Argentinean coach Calderon tried to strengthen his front line pushing in Haboosh Saleh to replace Nawaf Mubarak in the 71st minute and his counterpart completed his substitutions with Mishal Al Saeed who replaced Abdu Otaif two minutes later. Mishal Al Saeed came close to give Al Ittihad the lead in the 83rd minute but his header missed the target.

Supported by a big mass of spectators, Bani Yas put more pressure on their rivals' defense in the last minutes but all their work was in vain to end the match with a goalless draw.