Majid Youssef Mohammed Baqer of Al Ahli in action against Al Nasr at the 6th Hamdan Bin Mohammed International Football Championship U17 in Dubai on Wednesday. Photo by Neeraj Murali.
Dubai - Penultimate fixture in Group B sees local derby go Al Ahli way
Published: Wed 13 Apr 2016, 9:27 PM
Updated: Wed 13 Apr 2016, 11:30 PM
Dashing forward Mazen Sadeq scored perhaps the best goal of the tournament so far when he sent a high curling left footer past diving Al Nasr keeper Mohammed Yousuf in the 32nd minute, to give Al Ahli a 1-0 victory over Dubai rivals Al Nasr at the sixth Hamdan international soccer for under 17 boys.
The penultimate Group B round was basically inconsequential as Real Madrid and Internacional (Brazil) who were playing the late night fixture in the group on Wednesday, had already made it to the semifinals slotted for Friday - first semis kickoff 4.45 at the Dubai Police Officers' Club stadium. The second last four encounter begins at 7.30pm.
On Wednesday, in the late game, Borrusia Dortmund finished on top of Group A following a hard earned 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal. Both sides move into the last four stage of the eight-team event which sees the final scheduled at 6pm on Sunday.
Al Nasr coach Ivan Senzen, told Khaleej Times: "We just did not have the right kind of energy and resources up front despite the tremendous work of our half line led by the Player of the Match Fahd Mahmood. Our moves filtered out tamely to the good defensive work of our opponents."
Mahmood's approach and command in the midfield distribution work was a continuous source of trouble for the Red Knights who relied on Abdulrehman Mohammed and Saif Ali to initiate their raids.
A satisfied person was Al Ahli coach Salah Ali. He told Khaleej Times: "We looked a bit jaded, maybe the strain of winning the national under 17 championship still remains but they played with cohesion and technically I give credit for both sides for sticking to the basics and yet produced an interesting match."
Sadeq was inspiring with his fast runs on the right flanks on occasions and the brilliant dribbles in the middle when assisting his forwards. A floating feeder line was taken advantage of by him 13 minutes away from the lemon time buzzer when he sent the long beauty which the Nasr keeper initially thought was going over the cross piece. The sudden dip and extra curl in the trajectory caught Yousuf flat footed.
Hussain Mahdi had perhaps the best chance to restore parity 10 minutes into the second half when he shot weakly into the grateful hands of Ahli goalie Abdulla Tariq after being set up brilliantly by Mahmood.
Ahli stopper Mohamed Emad, playing the role of an attacker during a raid, fumbled in the 57th minute, again off a Sadeq supply line. Minutes later Sadeq missed a sitter after being given a measured pass by Ali Mohammed.
moni@khaleejtimes.com
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