Sports > Football > SEPAHAN ONE STEP AWAY FROM ACL FINAL BY AFSHIN DASTAFSHAN
Sepahan Win But Concede An Away Goal
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Sepahan FC took a giant step toward Asian Champions League (ACL) final with a first leg 3-1 home win over Al Wahda of UAE, the away goal conceded in Esfehan will be of some concern to Sepahan but this wasn’t enough to spoil the party. Sepahan have already progressed further in this year’s ACL than any Iranian club has before, they are 90 minutes away from becoming the first Iranian club to qualify for ACL final.
Sepahan kicked-off the match showing they were there to win, they went on the attack from the word go and pinned Al Wahda back in their half, Sepahan were rewarded with an early goal in 11th minute thanks to their opportunist and skilful striker Mahmoud Karimi who missed Sepahan’s quarter final matches against Kawasaki due to injury. Karimi marked his return with two goals in this match, the second coming on the hour mark when once again Karimi’s good positioning was the telling factor. Karimi was a total menace to Al Wahda throughout the match, Al Wahda were reduced to 10 men in the 33rd minute when defender Yasser Abdullah was sent off for a foul on Karimi.
Much to my surprise the 10 man Al Wahda started the second half the stronger side and pushed Sepahan back, they levelled the match early in the second half and could have taken the lead but for the heroics of Sepahan keeper Abbas Mohammadi, once again Mohammadi saved the day for Sepahan with a number of crucial saves in the second half (just as he did against Kawasaki). Karimi’s second goal was followed by a penalty kick award when Hossein Papi was brought down in the 18 yard box, Navidkia made no mistake and converted the penalty to give Sepahan a 3-1 lead and that’s how the match ended.
The two goal cushion has put Sepahan in a comfortable position for the return leg but they should not be too content, Sepahan head coach Luca Bonacic will be aware that his side cannot take anything for granted; the away goal conceded in Esfehan means a 2-0 win for Al Wahda in the return leg would knock Sepahan out of the final on away goal rule (3-3 on aggregate). It should also be noted that in the first leg Al Wahda played with 10 men for almost one hour of the match so they were a player short.
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Sepahan’s top ACL scorer Sayed Salehi is still not available due to injury; defender Hadi Aghili picked up an injury during the match with Al Wahda and had to be taken off in the second half, Aghili is not expected to be fit for the return leg. Sepahan could kill the tie off if they score an away goal in UAE and that is what they should be aiming for, should Sepahan score then Al Wahda would need to score 4 times to win the tie (i.e. win 4-1), so Sepahan know what they have to do, the away goal factor might be the decider in this tie. Bonacic has a proven record of planning his games effectively and doing his home work on the opposition.
In the other semi final match Seongnam Chunma of South Korea drew 2-2 at home with Urawa Reds of Japan, the Japanese side will be happy with the away point and two away goals they have; they are now in a strong position to secure a place in ACL finals hopefully against Persian warriors Sepahan. The return leg of both matches will be played on October 24th.
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