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Al Shabab lose to Al Salmiyah with a lone goal in the GCC Clubs Championship

 

Al Salmiyah of Kuwait beat UAE Al Shabab with a solitary goal in the GCC Clubs Championship game played this evening at the losers' home ground. The match was marred by male display with both teams playing below the par. Al Shabab's Brazilian coach Paulo Bonamego faced the visiting squad without most of his key players who won the Etisalat Cup title on last Friday because the team has already qualified for the quarterfinal stage of the GCC Clubs Championship. But in spite of playing without a number of their best players, Al Shabab were the better side. They controlled the game from the start creating a number of scoring chances, but the visitors' defense stood solid on their way spoiling all their attempts. The hosts made 13 raids in the first session against 4 built up by the winners.

Al Shabab won the away encounter held earlier in Kuwait by a solitary goal in the second round and now they are staying on top of Group "A" with six points from three games despite of today's defeat. They still have a game in hand as they are to face Al Riffah of Bahrain in an away encounter next week to determine the leaders of the group. Al Salmiyah of Kuwait have finished their matches and in spite of this win, they are out of contention after collecting only 4 points. They came out with a win and a draw against Al Riffah and exchanged victory with UAE team Al Shabab. Al Shabab qualified to the quarterfinal with Al Riffah who have four points and both teams will balltle it out in their next tie. Al Riffah need to win against Al Shabab to raise their tally to 7 points to top the table of the group, while only a draw will give Al Shabab the leadership of the group which is considered an advantage to play their quarterfinal game at home.

Mohammad Naser of Al Shabab came close to put his team into the lead when he sent a strong volley that saved by the visitors' custodian five minutes before the break. The visitors Al Salmiyah took the lead in the last minute of the first half injury time via their striker Ali Ferydoon with a perfect header to end the first session with a 1-0 lead.

Al Shabab fought hard in the second half to level the score and their work yielded a penalty when Al Salmiyah's Moroccan defender Mohammad Al Abo fouled Nasir Masaud into the box in the 58th minute, but Mohammad Nasir failed to score for the goalkeeper to deflect the ball to a corner. Both teams squandered a number of golden sitters in the last minutes to end the game with a 1-0 win for Al Salmiyah.