DUBAI // Ibrahima Toure, searching for redemption, inspired his Al Nasr side to a semi-final victory in the Arabian Gulf Cup on Friday night as they beat Baniyas and edged one step closer to ending the club’s 25-year wait for a domestic trophy.
The last time the two sides met, the Senegalese striker was sent off, banned for four matches and fined Dh200,000 for striking Mohammed Jaber in the face. At Maktoum Stadium on Friday, he notched the opening goal and set up the decisive second to book the Dubai-based club’s place in the final.
“I don’t like to focus on what happened in the past,” Ivan Jovanovic, the Nasr coach said. “He made one mistake and was punished for this mistake and we cannot judge the player by this. Tonight he gave a lot of effort, he tried a lot, scored the goal, got an assist and I am very happy with his performance.”
Baniyas were missing the Emirati midfield pair of Haboush Saleh and Amer Abdulrahman to the Asian Cup in Australia and struggled to get a foothold in the game in the opening stages.
Nasr made the early possession count when Ivan Trickovski, the Macedonian winger, broke down the right wing in the seventh minute and fired in a low cross that eluded the last-ditch leg of Jaber.
Toure, rushing in late, connected with a side-footed shot that deflected off Jaber on its way past Mohsin Al Hashmi to give his side the lead.
Baniyas rallied, with former Everton forward Denis Stracqualursi heading off target after 20 minutes, but Toure came within inches of doubling his side’s lead when his placed header was tipped around the post by Al Hashmi.
The hosts had to wait until the 59th minute before putting the game out of reach. A long ball was headed on by the gangly figure of Toure and Tariq Ahmed pounced to toe the ball over the onrushing Al Hashmi.
“It was very important for us that we reached the final,” Jovanovic said. “Every time you play a semi-final, there is always a lot of pressure and what is important is every chance you find you must take. We did that and we deserved to win.”
Stracqualursi thought he had pulled one back for the visitors in the 70th minute, but was rightly flagged offside and when the referee deemed the Argentine to have dived in the penalty box a minute later, his teammate Joan Verdu showed such vehement dissent towards the official he was shown a straight red.
“I can’t understand the dismissal,” Luis Garcia, the Baniyas coach, said. “All he was doing was asking for a penalty, but referees are humans and make mistakes – sometimes they benefit the opponent, sometimes they benefit us.
“It wasn’t our day. We tried to change the match until the last minute, but overall Nasr deserve their place in the final.”
The Dubai club will face Al Sharjah in the final on January 30.
Ahmed is Sharjah’s saviour
Goalkeeper Rashid Ahmed was the hero in a penalty shootout on Friday, saving two spot kicks for Sharjah as they defeated Al Shabab 5-3 to reach the Arabian Gulf Cup final.
The teams were deadlocked on a goal apiece after normal time and neither could find a winner in extra time. The first goal came from Mohammed Ayed but a successfully converted penalty from Sharjah’s Leonardo Lima levelled the scores.
It was then Sharjah who reigned supreme from the spot to make it to the final, which will be played on January 30. Ahmed saved the first and third penalties, taken by Essa Mohammed and Carlos Villanueva, before Wanderley scored the decisive goal.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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