Al Ain have set up a date with Al Ahly of Egypt in the second round of the Intercontinental Cup, after beating Auckland City of New Zealand, the Oceania champion, 6-2, today, Sunday, at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, in the elimination match for the “Africa-Asia-Pacific” region.
The Argentine coach of “Al-Zaeem”, Hernan Cercibo, won the hearts of the fans after he kept the Moroccan star Soufiane Rahimi and the veteran full-back Bandar Al-Ahbabi on the bench, while he excluded the striker Laba Kodjo from his technical options for the match.
But defender Fabio Cardoso quickly dispelled the fears and managed to put the “leader” in the lead with a header after a corner kick he received inside the box, rose to it before the defenders, and put it in the goal “7”.
It was the turn of substitute Sekou Baba to have his say in the match with a goal he scored through individual effort after dribbling past three Auckland City defenders, and firing a left-footed shot into a difficult angle for goalkeeper Tracy Connor “13”.
The leader was not satisfied with what he presented in the first minutes, but continued his offensive approach, as Palacios distributed a cross from the left side, which New Zealand defender Michael Hager made a mistake in clearing and put into his team’s net, but Algerian referee Mustafa Gherbal cancelled the goal due to offside “19”.
The brilliant goalkeeper Khaled Eisa proved his presence in the match by stopping the first attempt made by the guests through a shot by Steph Okech, which he fired from the edge of the box “22”.
Al Ain paid the price for their negligence, conceding a goal from a direct corner kick played by Gerson Lagos after the ball went over Abdelkarim Traore’s head “43”, but the visitors’ joy at their goal did not last long, as Matias Palacios quickly widened the gap again thanks to a perfect pass from Sekou Baba that beat the defence “45+1”.
Problems began to appear again for Al Ain at the beginning of the second half, when Meyer Bevan surprised the “leader” by scoring the second goal after De Vries played with the defense before passing to the unmarked “Bevan” “54”.
Al Ain coach sensed the danger and brought on striker Soufiane Rahimi, who was on time and scored the reassuring goal after moving between Auckland’s defence to receive Salomoni’s cross and head it into the goal “78”.
The other substitute, Kaku, left his mark by scoring the fifth goal with a precise shot from outside the box (90+2).
Sofiane Rahimi concluded the goal festival by scoring his second personal goal and the sixth for his team “90+4”.
., and the latest political and economic developments via Google News
