Abu Dhabi: It was a night of disappointment for both capital-based teams — Al Wahda and Al Jazira in the AFC Champions League on Monday.
‘The Clarets,’ in their Group B fixture at home, allowed Qatari side Al Duhail to rally from a goal down to eventually win the contest 3-2, while Al Jazira lost their Group A away match to Saudi’s Al Ahli 2-1.
Though there are still four matches to go, Al Wahda are clearly in a spot of bother as they remain at the bottom of the table without opening their account.
A dejected Al Wahda coach Laurențiu Reghecampf said later: “There is not much to say about the match, we were leading 1-0 and then we were not good in the game. It was difficult in the middle as we lost too many balls and we received three goals in the second half due to very big mistakes.”
The Romanian, however, was of the view that all is not lost and his side can bounce back in the coming matches.
“We don’t want to think we are out because we have four matches. We are not happy with the loss and I will speak with the players and we will try to bounce back. We had a tight schedule, we played Al Ain and this match. We had a strong opponent who played nice football and was very offensive in their attack. We have to prepare well for the next game,” said Reghecampf, who was of the view that as professional footballers, his team has to deal with the pressure of playing back-to-back matches.
Al Jazira, with one win and a loss from the two outings, are placed second behind Al Ahli on better goal-difference than third-placed Al Gharafa, who are also on three points.
Al Jazira coach Henk ten Cate felt that his side gave it everything and were very aggressive in their approach in the second half, but missed chances cost them the game.
“We created chances and were very offensive in the second half, but didn’t score. In the first half, I thought we should have had a penalty when Ali Mabkhout was pushed when he was totally free. I think the ref didn’t have the best night today,” said Ten Cate, adding that he and his team don’t regret the loss because they had control over the game.
“When you play an away game in the championship, it is not about attacking like crazy and then run into a counterattack and lose. We controlled and then we started changing and in the last 30 minutes, we had our chances.
“Al Ahli hardly got into our half and to create chance is one thing and to finish another. The tactical choice was good, but football is about scoring goals and we missed goals.”
