Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: Hammadi Ahmed scored a second-half hat-trick as Air Force Club of Iraq notched up a fifth win in six games in Group C of the 2016 AFC Cup with a 4-0 win over Oman’s Al Orouba on Wednesday.
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Ahmed took his tally in the group stage to 11 with a 52nd minute penalty, a close-range finish four minutes later and a 78th minute tap-in to reclaim top spot in the tournament’s goal scoring charts, before Syria’s Mouaiad Al Ajaan (pictured) added a fourth eight minutes from time with a spectacular long-range effort.
The 26-year-old’s hat-trick moves him three goals clear of Ceres La Salle’s Spanish striker Adrian Gallardo and a further two ahead of Mohd Safiq, one of three players on six goals, of reigning champions Johor Darul Ta’zim.
The win was Air Force’s third in a row and fifth in total in the group stage, with Ali Hadi’s side only dropping points in a 5-2 loss against Al Wahda on Matchday Three.
“It was very important to win the match as we wanted to boost the morale of the players,” said Hadi. “We made the most of the experience of our players tonight and got a big win.
“We knew that our opponents are a good side and we studied them well. But we knew how to take advantage of the chances that we created in the second half and got the three points.”
Air Force started the brighter of the two teams, with Humam Tareq firing his long-range shot over the bar after just seven minutes. Al Orouba’s Moussa Kone went closer still two minutes later as his dipping effort from distance only just cleared the woodwork.
Samal Saeed and Mohammed Hasan both went close for Air Force in what remained of the first half while Air Force goalkeeper Fahad Talib was on hand to deny Lyle Peters when he tried his luck from long range in the 24th minute.
While the first half was an even affair, Air Force took charge in the second. Six minutes after the restart Ahmed claimed his first from the spot after Abdul Al Mukaini was adjudged to have handled inside the penalty area.
Four minutes later, Air Force doubled their lead when Al Ajaan won the ball inside the area before rolling the ball across the face of goal for Ahmed to score from just two yards out.
And with 12 minutes remaining the Iraqis put the result beyond doubt when Al Ajaan and Ahmed combined again when the Syrian winger broke the Al Orouba offside trap before squaring for the striker to score once more.
Al Ajaan put the icing on the cake eight minutes from the end as he capped a fine individual performance with a spectacular strike from 25 yards that gave Ibrahim Al Mukaini no chance as it flew into the top corner.
As a result, Air Force finished top of Group C with 15 points with Al Orouba rooted to the bottom with just four points, although the final standings are subject to pending AFC Disciplinary Committee decisions.
“We were affected by the absence of our key players. We lacked coherence tonight and the players didn’t perform well,” said Al Orouba coach Martin Koopman. “Our opponents had a good match and they were hard to beat.
“We tried our best to match them, especially in the first half, while we created some chances in the second half. But things didn’t go our way because we didn’t have good replacements.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports