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Al Wahda lose last chance for qualifying to 16 stage

 

Al Wahda lost their last opportunity for qualifying to the 2011 AFC Champions League stage 16 following their 2-3 defeat to Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan in round 5 game played tonight at Jar Stadium. Bunyodkor raised their tally to 8 points in the second place, two behind Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia who are on top of Group "C" despite of their loss to Piroozi of Iran by the same margin to qualify both to the next phase. Piroozi and Al Wahda are out of contention with 5 and 3 points respectively.

Al Wahda team's coach Heckersberger fielded on a lineup which included goalkeeper Motaz Abdullah, Mahmoud Khamis, Hamdan Al Kamaly, Hayder Allo Ali, and Fahad Masaud as defenders, Mohammad Al Shihhy, Khalid Jalal, Hassan Amin, Magraow, Ismail Matter and Hugo. The visiting squad surprised the hosts taking an early lead only two minutes into the game. Mohammad Al Shehhy received a lovely pass from Ismail Matar, ran down into the box before sending across ball for Ismail to drive it home giving  AL Wahda a 1-0 lead.

 This early goal helped Al Wahda to play with confidence, creating a bagful of chances but they failed to score. In spite of conceding an early goal, but the hosts did not lose concentration .They tried their best to recover quickly and it was only ten minutes later before Bunyodkor leveled the score via trifunovic who capitalized on the big mistake committed by Al Wahda's defenders. The switched ball from the left flank went past all Al Wahda's defenders for the unmarked Trifunovic to slam it home bringing the game to the golden square. Al Wahda continued their brilliant display after the draw, but their defenders committed a number of errors that could have costed them a lot. They came close to retake the lead in the 28th minute with Al Kamali's close-range perfect header, but the keeper controlled the ball before it crosses the goal line.

The two teams went on their attempts trying to add more goals, but it was the home team who made it successfully when Trifunovic came again to put his side into the lead with a ball switched from the left flank .He jumped high inside the six yard area before sending a perfect header into the left hand side in the 36th minute making it 2-1. Al Wahda's Brazilian player Hugo's volley rebounded off the goalie's hands for a defender to clear it  away four minute before the break .The cross bar and the upright deprived both Morsaiv and Haydarov from scoring in the 43th and 46th respectively to end the first session with a 2-1 lead for the hosts.

 Bunyodkor started the second half with quick attacks putting more pressure on their contender's goal. Al Wahda also exerted more efforts looking for the equalizer and their work was soon paid dividend in the 54th minute. They were awarded a penalty when Ismail Matar launched a strong shot off a dead ball for a defender to deflect it by his hand inside the box. Brazilian player Hugo made no mistake when he converted the ball into the net to make it 2-2 in the 64th minute .The two teams lost some scoring chances afterward with the hosts controlling the major parts of the game .Their substitute Anvarjon Solev secured them the three points and a berth in the best 16 stage when he scored the winner with a perfect header five minutes to time to end the match with a 3-2 victory for his side.