Al Ahli clinched the last semi-final spot in the Arabian Gulf Cup but not before they were made to dig deep into their resources against Al Dhafra on Wednesday night at the Hamdan bin Zayed stadium.
Hamad Al Ahbabi put Dhafra in the lead in the first half and Everton Ribeiro equalised seven minutes after the break for a 1-1 result that took Ahli joint second on 10 points each with Al Nasr in Group A.
Ahli qualify ahead of Nasr on the head-to-head rule having beaten them 2-0 earlier. They will now meet Al Shabab while Al Wasl face Al Wahda in the semi-finals.
Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroiu conceded his plan was to rest some players after their league game against Baniyas on Sunday, but that did not work as they were trailing at half time.
“We have a lot of injured and tired players, and a cramped schedule because of our commitments in the Asian Champions League,” Olaroiu said.
Ahli reached the two-legged continental Cup final but lost to Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande 1-0 last month.
However, their ACL commitments have left them with a busy domestic schedule to complete the postponed games.
“From the onset we thought we’ll rest some of the players against Dhafra but they didn’t allow us to do that,” Olaroiu said. “After reaching this point we didn’t want to an opportunity slip away. So we had to bring in both Ribeiro and [Rodrigo] Lima from the bench to achieve the result we wanted. And we are glad we achieved it even though we had to work hard.”
Dhafra, fielding mostly their reserve players, surprised Ahli by scoring off a counter attack.
They made a quick clearance from a corner for Abdullah Abdulqader to sprint half the field down the left flank.
Al Ahbabi got a perfect through pass and he slot it past the charging Ahli goalkeeper Majed Naser to provide the lead in the 36th minute.
Olaroiu was forced to bring out Ribeiro and Lima from the bench after the break, and it had an immediate impact.
They created a couple of scoring opportunities before Ribeiro’s equaliser off a set-piece.
Ahmed Khalil rolled in the free-kick and the Brazilian midfielder, unmarked inside the area, scored off a deft left-footer.
Mohammed Kwid, the Dhafra coach, was happy with the efforts of his players.
“We had no chance in reaching the knockout stage of the cup and hence we provided most of our fringe players the opportunity and showed they can also compete against any opposition,” the Syrian said.
In the other game, Shabab extended their lead in Group B after a 1-1 away result in Fujairah. Mahmood Qasim headed a corner for the visitors in the 28th minute but Ibrahim Khamis knocked in a cross from Muhanad Khamis nine minutes into the second half.
apassela@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
