Al Ain is Satisfied by 1-1 Draw Against Esteghlal Tehran
Attended by 90 thousand fans, Al Ain held Esteghlal Tehran at a draw by 1-1 in the matchround 4 of Group D of the AFC Champions League. Thiam scored for Esteghlal from the penalty point “42” and Shiotani succeeded in levelling the result for the “Boss” at “78”. By this result Al Ain balance of points turned to be 4 and placed third.
Zoran’s squad included: Khaled Issa, goalkeeper, and defenders Mohammed Ahmed, Shiotani, Ismail Ahmed and Mohannad Al Enezi. In the midfield, there were Barman, Ryan, Mohammed Abdul Rahman and Omar Abdul Rahman while in the front line, he positioned Ahmed Khalil and Berg.
Esteghlal took the initiative and launched attack attempts which were not dangerous for Khaled Issa. In their turn, Al Ain responded through Ryan with a powerful shot that passed the post by a whisker “12”. Ahmad Khalil was so close to hit the net of Esteghlal when he chased a pass from Berg but he missed the ball and ended out of the line “18”. Al Ain dominated the midfield of the pitch and Amoory fired a powerful shot but the goalkeeper palmed it off and the ball hit the post and turned to a corner kick “24”. The referee granted Ahmad Barman a yellow card “32”. At “38” Khalid Issa succeeded in saving his net when he put off the ball skilfully. Then the referee pointed to the penalty point in favour of Esteghlal and issued the yellow card to Khalid Issa at the moment of kicking the ball. Thiam succeeded in scoring the first goal for his team “42” and then the two teams went to the break of the first half.
At the kick-off of the second half, the “Boss” players’ intention was flawless to level the result. Berg had a great chance to equalize when he Amoory sent a deft pass in the box within the six yards but the goalkeeper palmed it off “49”. Again, Berg surprised the goalkeeper by a powerful shot and he was able to send it off with great difficulty “61”. Zoran substituted Barman by Bandar Al Ahbabi and Amer Abdul Rahman replaced Ahmed Khalil “65”. Bandar Al Ahbabi sent a nifty shot but it passed so close by the post when he exploited a bounced back ball by the defenders of Esteghlal “74”. Al Ain intensified their offense pressure and they were fruitful and Japan’s Shiotani was able to score the draw goal from a crushing shot set up by Rayyan at the edge of the box “78”. Then Zoran made a substitution as he pushed Diaky in replacement of Mohammed Ahmed “80”. Berg again was about to score the leading goal by a muscular shot but went out the line “85”. Al Ain players dominated all the details of the match in the last minutes and Diaky sent another screamer but ended in the hands of the goalkeeper “86”. In his turn, Khalid Issa was able palm off another dangerous ball at “90”. In the added time, Berg sent a shot but again in the hands of the goalkeeper and the referee whistled announcing the end of the match. away from his goal. 90 minutes later, Berg scored the extra time the goalkeeper received. The referee then announced the end of the match with a 1-1 draw.
By the end of the match, the AFC committee selected Japan’s Shiotani as the “Man of the Match”.
The match was run by a referee team from Hong Kong led by Lok Wok Man, “Match Referee” and Fuk Yong, “First Assistant Referee” and Lao Ming “Second Assistant Referee”
