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AL AIN — Pas go into Wednesday’s home leg of
the AFC Champions League (ACL) quarters in Teheran holding a slim away goal
lead over Al Ain after a 1-1 result on in the opening leg at Tahnoun bin
Mohammed stadium.
Al Ain split the point courtesy of an own goal from the boot of Iran
international defender Mohammad Nosrati, but the 2003 ACL champions had
their moments to score and a goal disallowed by Uzbek referee Ravshan
Irmatov, which left Milan Macala fuming his team was robbed of victory.
Al Ain were awarded a 25-metre free kick after Panama international Luis
Tejada had found the net from a rebound off Pas goalkeeper Hassan Roudbarian
hands after charging out of the penalty area to smother a shot from Nwoha
Onyekachi.
Roudbarian’s deliberate handling of the ball outside the penalty area got
him a direct red card but didn’t help the home team’s cause, as the goal was
disallowed, instead a 25-metre free kick awarded.
“The referee should have played advantage because I thought it was a goal,”
said Macala at the post match conference.
“I had no clue what the referee was doing. This was advantage for us and I
didn’t exactly see if there was an offside problem. In my opinion it was a
goal for us,” said the former Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman coach.
Macala’s men pushed hard for the lead after the opposition was reduced to 10
men on the field for the last half-hour of the match, yet Al Ain failed to
break the Pas defence.
“It’s not easy to play against 10-men opposition,” bemoaned Macala. “I have
seen this happen many, many times. They had some speedy players and we had
to keep a close marking on them to prevent any counter attacks. We could
have been down and out if that happened.”
Macala may not have been pleased with the performances of the foreign
signings, Panama internationals Tejada and Alberto Blanco, and Nigerian
Onyekachi, particularly when Pas had one player sent off on the hour mark.
However, the veteran Czech said they needed more time together. “Luis and
Blanco have played only a couple of games together. They haven’t had a good
game but I would hope they’ll combine better as a unit in the next 90
minutes of play in Teheran.”
Al Ain took the first 20 minutes of the game deep into the visitor’s
territory but a counter attack off a clearance from a free kick by Subait
Khater from their own penalty area saw Arash Bohrani making a dash,
outpacing Al Ain defenders Juma Khater and Ali Massari on the race for the
ball before firing past Mutaz Abdulla for a 23rd minute lead.
That goal put the pressure and created panic on the home team in which
period the visitors nearly doubled the score, but fortunately for Al Ain,
Hadi Shakouri failed to latch on to a loose ball spilt in front of the goal
by Mutaz Abdulla.
“This has been one of our problems,” said Macala. “We keep attacking all the
time and when we can’t score, the pressure keeps piling on the players.
That’s when they start losing concentration.”
Macala’s counterpart Mustafa Denizli said he was pleased with the away
result after his team had to play the last hour-hour with 10 players.
“It’s not a big plus for us, but I am sure it gives the kind of platform to
work on the home advantage.
Any team that could share points from the away game with an away goal should
be satisfied with the result,” said the former Turkey manager.
Al Ain competed well until they conceded a goal in the 23rd minute and had
an opportunity to draw level but Onyekachi failed to fire from front of the
post from space created by Tejada in the 38th minute.
Their saving grace came four minutes later when Subait Khater’s right cross
deflected from the boot of Nosrati into his own net.
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