Al Ittihad inch closer to title

It is advantage Al Ittihad after the first leg of the AFC Champions League final held here late on Wednesday.

A sweetly-struck penalty goal, five minutes from the close, saved the blushes and gave the defending champions a 1-1 draw against former champions Al Ain.

The 86th minute penalty by Mohammad Kallon neutralised the 50th minute lead given to Al Ain by Ali Masri.

The advantage definitely goes to Al Ittihad due to the away goals rule as the two giants of West Asia prepare to clash in the second leg in Amman on November 5.

True the visiting squad would have been delighted to return home with honours shared and the advantage of an away goal. But until that equaliser Al Ain's coach Milan Macala seemed to have had the better of his Romanian rival Ian Iordanescu at the Tahnoun Bin Mohammad Stadium.

While the defending champions entered the match holding the edge due to the sheer quality of their players, Macala had predicted a surprise from his boys who had won the inaugural version of the AFC Champions League in 2003.

And till that late equaliser, Macala nearly delivered a win.

Macala started with skipper Fahad Ali playing in deep defence as a sweeper, the player's first start in the knockout stage.

But it was his ploy to put Juma Khater and Ali Masri to shadow Mohammad Kallon and Joseph-Desire Job, respectively, which caught Iordanescu napping.

The feared Kallon was hardly allowed any space while Job, on loan from Premiership Club Middlesborough, was also crippled by Al Ain's solid defence to leave the feared Al Ittihad strike force struggling.

Al Ain absorbed intense pressure from their rivals and despite their failure to counter-attack did have a fair share of their chances.

But Nwoha Onyekachi and Luis Tejada missed easy chances in the first half while a booming free-kick by Subait Khater crashed on to the post early in the second half.

Earlier in the sixth minute, Moataz Abdullah did well to palm away a powerful drive from Manaf Abushgeer.

Job also missed a good chance when he was left unmarked inside the box but fortunately his header went wide.

Kallon also came up with an acrobatic reverse shot, but Abdullah was on hand to save for Al Ain.

The hosts surged ahead in full throttle in the second half and after Subait's effort, it was Al Ittihad custodian Mabrouk Zaid whose display justified his nomination for one of the AFC Player of the Year awards.

Twice in two minutes he showed excellent reflexes to thwart Abdullah Ali and Tejada.

However the sustained pressure yielded results and in the 50th minute, Alberto Blanco's cross was first headed by Masri, but Zaid saved. The rebound was quickly put home by the Al Ain defender for his first goal in the championship.

Iordanescu brought in skipper Mohammad Noor and soon the Saudi side began to attack with a new sense of urgency and purpose.

And then Macala made a change in his attempt to try to sew up the match with another goal.

He brought in Shehab Ahmad for Onyekachi and his decision was met with loud jeers from the home crowd. However, it was Macala's other substitution, Gareeb Hareb, whose rash challenge on Adnan Ebrahim ended with Korean referee Kwon Jong-chul pointing to the spot.

Kallon sent Abdullah the wrong way and the 86th minute equaliser stunned the partisan crowd of about 13,000.

The Al Ain coach now has his task cut out at the return-leg encounter on November 5.