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Al Wasl overcome Al Wahda in penalty shootout to qualify to the GCC Clubs Championship semifinal

Dubai-based Al Wasl proceeded to the Gulf Clubs Championship semifinal stage through penalty shootout following their 6-4 win over Al Wasl in their quarterfinal game played this evening at Al Wasl Stadium. The two teams ended the official time with a goalless draw and scored one goal each in the extra time to resort to penalty shootout.

They started the game playing with more care especially in the back line and at the same time making some attempts trying to score an early goal. Al Wahda's Brazilian striker Fernando Bayno came close to give his side the lead when he launched a strong volley from inside the box but he was unhappy to see the ball rebounding off the upright before being cleared away by a defender only 13 minutes intro play. The visiting team dominated the match for only a few minutes and failed to find the back of the net. The hosts recovered after more than 20 minutes after a normal display and they looked the better side afterwards through the last 25 minutes giving their opponents hard time and their efforts were near to pay dividends but Al Wahda's defense and their goalkeeper Adil Al Hosani saved the day for their side. They created a brilliant chance in the 24th minute when Juan Olivera's volley hit the left upright and cleared away afterwards. Olivera tested his luck in the 26th minute the ball was but deflected by Adil Al Hosani to a corner. 

Both squads could not make use of all the opportunities that came their way to end the first session with a goalless draw.

Al Wahda's Austrian coach Heksberger fielded in Omer Ali in the beginning of the first session to replace injured defender Yaagoub Al Hosani. The hosts created three successive chances through Rashid Essa, Olivera and Essa Rashid in the first ten minutes after the break, but the goalie Adil Al Hosani saved bravely in all occasions. Fernando Bayano faced Al Wasl's goalkeeper in the 62nd minute but sent the ball into the keeper's hands squandering an invaluable chance for his side. Al Wasl replied through a perfect header sent by Khalatbari in the 67th minute off the ball switched by Brazilian midfielder Donda for Adil Al Hosani to deflect it over the cross bar for a corner.

Both teams went into their attempts but without scoring to end the official time with the same result of the first half to resort to a 30-minute extra time.

Both teams failed to score in the third session in spite of the bagful of chances that came their way. But Olivera put Al Wasl into the lead in the 113th minute with a perfect header. Their joy did not live long as Fernando Bayno brought the game back into parity one minute later off a dead ball that deflected by Donda into his own net to end the  match with a 1-1 draw to resort to the penalty shootout.

Juan Olivera, Mariano Donda, Yasser Salim, Essa Ali and Khalatbari made no mistake in the penalty shootout while Al Wahda scored via Bayano, Saeed Al Katheri and Omer Ali and lost one penalty through Essa Santo. 

The winners will face AlKhor of Qatar who beat the Kuwati side Al Arabi by a solitary goal on May 23rd in the semifinal match.

On the other hand the UAE team Al Shabab lost their last AFC Champions League match this evening to Piroozi of Iran with a 3-1 result at their home ground, while the other UAE side Al Nasr beat Lekhwia of Qatar 2-1 in the match played tonight in Doha.