الغرافه يفوز في المحطه الثانيه ولكن يخرج من دوري البطوله !!

Gharaffa wins second leg 4-2, bows out of CL








DOHA LAPSE in concentration for two minutes cost Gharaffa Sports Club a berth in semifinal of the AFC Champions League.

Playing second leg of the quarter-final on home turf against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Gharaffa scored four goals but conceded two.

Al Hilal despite losing Wednesday’s match moved ahead in the tournament on the basis of better goal aggregate.

The Saudi club had won the first leg of the quarterfinal 3-0 in Riyadh last week.

Gharaffa played like a team possessed but suffered for its complacent show in Riyadh and lowering the guard in closing stages of the actionpacked match, which stretched into the extra time.

By the end of regulation time, scores were level, as Gharaffa had wiped out the deficit, thanks to goals by Mirghani Alzain N Babiker, Younus Mahmood and Otman el Assas.

The Qatari club grabbed the driver’s seat and went ahead of the Saudi club in terms of goal aggregate in the 102nd minute when Younus again found the net.

The Gharaffa players can only blame themselves for making exit from the tournament as lethargy got the better of them in the dying moments of the match and the Hilal players played with a never-say-die attitude to capitalise on this lapse of their opponents.

In a match that was played for 120 minutes, Gharaffa enjoyed a four-goal lead for 117 minutes.

The two Al Hilal goals came in the 118th and 119th minutes and they were enough to spell Gharaffa’s doom.

The first Saudi goal was a header scored by Yasser al Qahtani.

The opportunistic Saudi striker back-headed the ball into the net that had ballooned high in the air in course of a goalmouth melee.

Abdulaziz Ali Abdulla, the Gharaffa goalie, was grossly out of position on the occasion.

Eysa Mohammad dealt a killer blow to Gharaffa hopes a minute later when he got hold of a loose clearance and made a dash straight for the goal and struck neatly.

While the Gharaffa supporters were silenced by the goals, it infused life into thousands of Hilal supporters, who for the better part of the match were mute witness to the hammering of their team.

Gharaffa took the field with a fearless approach and created chinks in Hilal armoury as early as the second minute.

The goal came even before the fans had settled down in their seats.

Clemerson de Araujo from just outside the box pushed the ball to Mirghani on his right.

The latter made no mistake and slotted the ball into the net with a powerful right foot.

Younus consolidated the lead in the 37th minute through a header.

Lawrence and Mirghani exchanged short passes between them from the corner before the former lobbed the ball near the far post for Younus to score.

Gharaffa wiped out the deficit in the 39th minute through Otman’s free-kick from just outside the box.

The shot found the small gap in the wall put up by Hilal defenders and dipped in front of the goalie before entering the net.

The Qatari club shot into the lead in the 101st minute when Fahid al Shammari ran down the left flank and supplied a cross into the box for Younus to tap in with his right foot.

The Gharaffa players sadly could not maintain the tempo for remaining part of the match and made exit.

In desperation many of them lost their temper and Bilal Abdulrahman and coach Caio Junior ended up being shown the red card.