Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuwait City: Qadsia SC advanced to the semi-finals of the 2015 AFC Cup on with a 3-2 aggregate win despite suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Syria’s Al Jaish at Kuwait Sports Club Stadium on Tuesday.
Goals from Mohamad Akkad and Mahmoood Al Baher gave the Syrian side the win on the night but it was not enough to overturn the 3-0 deficit inflicted upon the club from Damascus from the first leg.
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Qadsia, the defending champions, missed a late penalty through Bader Al Mutawa but the Kuwaitis held on to register the aggregate win and advance to the last four of the competition.
Al Jaish, needing to score three times to take the game into extra time, started brightly, putting pressure on the Qadsia defence without creating any opportunities of note.
However, with 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Syrians picked up the goal their early play deserved.
Ezzeddin Al Awad made his way down the left flank before sending in a low cross and Akkad sent his first-time shot beyond Qadsia SC goalkeeper Ahmed Al Fadhli.
The goal gave the Syrians the boost they needed and they started the second half in confident fashion as they continued to search for a way to pull level on aggregate.
Within six minutes of the restart, Al Jaish had doubled their lead and reduced the overall deficit to just a solitary goal.
A mistake by goalkeeper Al Fadhli, when he under-hit a pass to his defence, was pounced on by Baha Al Din Karout, who picked up the loose ball before laying his pass off to Al Baher and he curled his shot into the top left corner.
Al Jaish needed just one more goal to level the scores on aggregate but, a minute into injury time, Qadsia were awarded a penalty after Al Mutawa was fouled by Hussain Al Shouaeeb, only for the Kuwait international to see his attempt saved by Ahmad Madanieh.
The miss, however, proved to be academic as Qadsia held on to their advantage to advance to the last four.
Photo: WSG