Mixed emotions after Doha draw

AFC – DOHA, Esteghlal and Al Gharafa were content to collect a point from Wednesday’s draw in the AFC Champions League, but both conceded the 1-1 stalemate has equally dented their qualification hopes in Group A.

Iraq striker Younis Mahmoud gave Al Gharafa hope of avenging last week’s 3-0 defeat in Tehran after heading home from close range in first half stoppage time after Esteghlal goalkeeper Mohammad Mohammadi failed to hold Araujo’s shot.
But two minutes before the hour mark, Mehdi Seyed Salehi headed home for the visitors as Esteghlal remained a point clear of Al Gharafa at the top of the table with two games remaining.

But with Al Ahli recording a 2-0 win over Al Jazira to dent the UAE side’s hopes of qualification, the Saudis are just a point further off the pace ahead of a trip to Iran in two weeks.

“Both the teams played a high quality of football. Everybody saw a nice, quality match. Al Gharafa is a very good team, they are good tactically and it was a tough match,” said Esteghlal coach Abdolsamad Marfavi.

“We tried to control the match but it was not easy. In the first match, we used the advantage of playing at home and we tried to focus on the negative side of Al Gharafa and tried to keep them in their own half as much as possible.

“But this time, our plan was different. We tried to attack and defend in equal measure. We were also successful in blocking their midfielders.

“They have good strikers but we were successful in the match and we stopped them from scoring.

“We now have two matches, one at home and one away. This point was important as we didn’t lose. This may not be enough to qualify, but I am happy with this one point.”

Despite failing to convert home advantage Al Gharafa coach Caio Junior, meanwhile, was happy with the point ahead of entertaining struggling Al Jazira in two weeks.

“The match was difficult and our performance was great in the first 20 minutes. We had chances to score, but we wasted them,” said the Brazilian coach.

“When we scored, we couldn’t hold onto our lead. But it was important not to lose this match. In the second half, Esteghlal were far more aggressive and that’s how they scored to stay in the match.

“Esteghlal are used to playing such matches, they have a lot of experience. Their experience helped them a lot in this match and it was obvious they had more experience at this level than we do.

“The 1-1 result may not be a good one, but I made changes by putting extra players at the back so that we didn’t lose and it was a good result.”