Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Doha: Wagner Ribeiro struck twice as Qatar’s El Jaish secured their first win of the 2013 AFC Champions League with a 3-1 victory over Al Jazira at Al Rayyan Stadium on Tuesday that moves Razvan Lucescu’s side into contention for a place in the knockout stages.
Wagner Ribeiro gave El Jaish the lead after just seven minutes before Mahir Yusuf doubled his side’s lead 10 minutes later, only for Subair Khater to reduce the deficit in first half stoppage time.
However, a second strike by Wagner Ribeiro 13 minutes after the restart restored El Jaish’s two-goal cushion and they managed to maintain their advantage to pick up all three points.
“I’m so happy for this win as the players performed well and the players followed the instructionsvery well and this helped us to win tonight,” said Lusecsu. “We scored from the chances that we had and this win will definitely help us in our campaign.
“We put a lot of pressure on our opponents and we always looked to score. We created good space and I’m happy with the work that the players did tonight. We still have three matches and hopefully we can continue winning.”
Both teams went into the game having picked up just one point from their opening two fixtures, with El Jaish drawing 3-3 with Tractorsazi on Matchday 2 while Al Jazira had secured a 1-1 draw with Al Shabab at the same stage of the competition.
Right from the start, though, it was El Jaish who always looked the more likely to strike and it came as little surprise when Wagner Ribeiro opened the scoring, the Brazilian sending Saad Sattam free down the right before receiving the return pass and slotting the ball beyond Ali Khaseif in the visitors’ goal.
Ten minutes later, El Jaish doubled their advantage when Yusuf struck with a low left foot shot that found the bottom corner of Khasief’s goal following an assist by Adriano (Adriano Ferreira Martins).
A long range effort from Khaled Al Zrigi and a header from Abdullah Aish were just off target as El Jaish continued to press, but the Qataris were made to pay for those misses when Khater’s in-swinging free kick from the left three minutes into first-half stoppage time missed everyone and nestled in the far side of the goal, giving Al Jazira hope.
Those dreams, though, were dashed in the 58th minute when Wagner Ribeiro struck once again, beginning and finishing the move that saw his shot go across Khaseif and into the corner of the goal to secure all three points.
“We made many mistakes which affected us and we lost the game because of those mistakes,” said Al Jazira coach Luis Milla. “It is really annoying that we lost the second match in the competition and this defeat will affect our chances of advancing to the knockout stage.
“El Jaish deserved to win tonight as they put on a good performance and they are concentrating on this competition. We still have a chance but we must show our best in the last three matches in the competition and hopefully we can get good results.”
Photo: WSG