Kuwaiti Qadisiya FC secure dramatic passage through AFC semi-final

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Al Hidd coach Chokri Bejaoui felt that Qadisia Sports Club’s experience of playing in the AFC Cup was crucial as the Kuwaiti side secured a dramatic passage through to the semi-finals of the tournament at the expense of his Bahraini team on Tuesday.

Tournament debutants Al Hidd had appeared to be on course for the last four as goals on either side of half-time by Orok Akarandut and Ahmed Al Khattal put them 2-0 ahead at the National Stadium in Manama and gave them a 3-1 aggregate advantage in the quarter-final.

But Danijel Subotic pulled a goal back for the visitors from the penalty spot midway through the second half before Mohammad Al Daoud inadvertently turned Hamad Aman’s cross into his own net in the 89th minute to send Qadsia through to a last four meeting with Indonesia’s Persipura Jayapura.

“We are very disappointed as we had a good performance and the big difference tonight was Qadisia SC’s experience in the big matches,” said Bejaoui (pictured).

“I want to thank the players for the effort they showed tonight but luck was not on our side. We tried our best to continue attacking in the match but the players retreated back and they lost their concentration when Qadsia SC scored the equalizer.

“We tried our best to give a good balanced performance but we made mistakes which we hope we will fix in the future.”

Qadisia are through to their third semi-final appearance in five seasons but the reaction of their coach Antonio Puche after the hard-fought victory was one of relief.

“The match was very hard for us as our forwards struggled to find any openings in the defense of our opponents. There were not enough spaces which made it very hard for our players to create any chances,” said the Spaniard.

“We had a good performance tonight and we achieved our target which is to advance to the semi-finals. We managed to make a good comeback although Al Hidd defended well after taking the lead.” /End/