The Sharjah team suffered a major loss against its Iranian counterpart, Sepahan, 1-3, the day before yesterday, at Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, in the fourth round of the third group competitions in the “AFC Champions League for Clubs 2”.
This loss is the first for Sharjah in the continental championship, which caused it to lose the top spot in the group and fall to second place, after its score froze at seven points, while Jordanian Al-Wahdat was alone at the top with 10 points, after its victory over its guest, Tajikistan’s Esteghlal, with a clean goal, while raising Sepahan has six points in third place.
“The King” entered into complex calculations to qualify for the second round, and thus made the task difficult for himself, after it was within his reach if he won the match and jumped his score to the tenth point, as he now needed to win the remaining two matches in this group.
Six technical reasons stand out behind the huge loss suffered by “The King”, which were the fatal defensive errors and the state of confusion that prevailed in the team, especially the defense, especially in the first half, after the team conceded an early goal only 12 minutes after the start of the match. Due to the absence of good defensive coverage, and the absence of close supervision by the defense quartet, especially David Petrovic and Khaled Al-Dhanhani, to limit the sources of danger in the Iranian team, in addition to Sharjah’s lack of strength. Striker, due to influential absences, especially Caio Lucas due to injury.
Among the reasons for the defeat was the lack of homogeneity in the lineup that the team’s coach, the Romanian Cosmin, brought into the match, especially in the first half, in addition to the coach’s lack of good reading of the course of the match, and his unsuccessful interventions, even though he was quick to change the picture by entering every match. From Luan Pereira and Firas Balarabi at the beginning of the second half, to strengthen the offensive side and return to the match again, but his interventions were late, as he should have started introducing this duo in the starting lineup from the beginning. Match.
On the other hand, the Iranian team played with strength and ferocity from the beginning of the match, and appeared in a different way than it appeared in the first leg, after the departure of the previous team coach, the Portuguese Jose Moraes. . Sharjah suffered significant absences from its ranks during the match, most notably Caio Lucas, Paco Alcacer, Mohamed Abdel Basset, and goalkeeper Khaled Tawhid, who underwent surgery on his right hand.
Al Hosani: We did not enter the match well
Sharjah goalkeeper, Adel Al Hosani, said in press statements after the match that “Sharjah did not enter the match well, especially in the first half,” stressing that despite Sharjah’s fight in the second half, it lost the match, indicating that “Sharjah is required to fight.” In the remaining two matches to reach the second round of the tournament.”
The 6 reasons
1- Fatal defensive mistakes.
2- The state of confusion after Sepahan’s early goal.
3- Lack of striking power due to influential absences, especially Caio Lucas.
4- Inconsistency in the lineup, especially in the first half.
5- The absence of good artistic reading by Kuzmin.
6- Sepahan appeared differently from the first leg after changing his coach.
Ranking of the group teams after the end of the fourth round
1- Units (10 points).
2- Sharjah (7 points).
3- Sepahan (6 points).
4- Independence of Dushanbe (without credit).
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