Al Ahly Edge out Duhail to Set up Bayern Last-4 Clash
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GGOLFOLF | Page 6 CCRICKETRICKET | Page 7 Horsey goes Mehidy hits ton on birdie blitz as Bangladesh for lead in gain upper Saudi Arabia hand vs WI Friday, February 5, 2021 TENNIS Jumada II 23, 1442 AH Nadal says he is not GULF TIMES fully fi t ahead of Australian Open SPORT Page 4 FOOTBALL/ FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP SPOTLIGHT Gignac double sends Mexico’s Al Ahly edge out Tigres into Club Duhail to set up World Cup semis Bayern last-4 clash Elshahat’s 30th-minute strike proved to be the diff erence between the two sides By Sahan Bidappa was ruled out after a VAR review Doha with the Ahly forward marginally off side. The visitors continued to press for the second goal but Du- l Duhail, making their hail held on to go into the break FIFA Club World Cup with just a one-goal defi cit. debut, had vowed to After the break, Lamouchi put up a fi ght against made a tactical switch bringing in AAfrican champions Al Ahly, and Almoez Ali and Mohamed Mun- the Qatari side delivered on their tari for Olunga and al-Rawi. The promise. But the home side’s changes seemed to work for Du- best eff ort wasn’t enough as they hail as they looked more threaten- slumped to a 0-1 loss to the Egyp- ing than their opponents. tians at the Education City Sta- With the Brazilian duo Edmil- dium yesterday. son and Dudu forming a devas- Hussein Elshahat’s 30th- tating front line with Almoez, minute strike proved to be the dif- Duhail were always in the game. Tigres’ forward Andre-Pierre Gignac celebrates scoring against ference between the two sides, as Edmilson, in particular, was Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium yesterday. Al Ahly secured a semi-fi nal date livewire in the second half, but with European powerhouse Bay- the 26-year-old was poor with AFP Tigres set up a meeting with ern Munich on Monday. his fi nal pass. Doha Palmeiras, who beat Sao Pau- For Duhail and coach Sabri In the 56th minute, Edmilson lo rivals Santos last weekend Lamouchi, it was a case of what dispossessed Mohamed Hany in the Copa Libertadores fi - could have been as they wasted but his shot was blocked by Aliou ormer France striker nal. at least three scoring chances in Dieng. With Duhail going out all Andre-Pierre Gignac No team from the CON- the second half. Now, the reign- in attack, goalkeeper Mohamed scored twice as Mex- CACAF region of North, Cen- ing QNB Stars League champions Elshenawy came to Ahly’s rescue ico’s Tigres defeated tral America and the Carib- will have to do with a consolation on more than one occasion. The FAsian champions Ulsan Hy- bean has ever reached the fi fth-place playoff against Ulsan African champions’ captain fi rst undai 2-1 yesterday to qualify Club World Cup fi nal. Hyundai, who had earlier lost to defl ected a powerful shot from for the semi-fi nals of the Club Bayern Munich are the Mexican side Tigres UANL. Muntari into the corner before World Cup. overwhelming favourites to Lamouchi reverted to a 4-3-3 denying Mohamed Moussa and Tigres, the CONCACAF cap a remarkable last year as defensive formation and kept Al- Dudu in quick succession. Champions League winners, they head to Qatar for the de- moez Ali on the bench, instead At the other end, Ahly them- will face Copa Libertadores layed FIFA Club World Cup, opting to start with new recruit selves had a chance to double the champions Palmeiras of Bra- taking place later than sched- Michael Olunga. The Frenchman Al Ahly’s midfielder Hussein Elshahat (C) gestures in celebration after scoring against Al Duhail of Qatar lead but Dieng shot inches wide zil tomorrow for a spot in next uled because of the impact of also surprisingly left out the ex- in the FIFA Club World Cup at the Education City Stadium yesterday. At bottom, a piece of the action from of the post. With time running week’s fi nal. the Covid-19 pandemic which perienced Luiz Martin and Assem the match. PICTURES: Shemeer Rashid out, Duhail were desperate for the Defender Kim Kee-hee overshadows the tourna- Madibo. equaliser and they nearly had one headed Ulsan ahead from a ment. Bayern qualifi ed after Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane in the 79th minute when Muntari corner in Al Rayyan, as the their triumph in last season’s kept his usual 4-2-3-1 forma- headed the ball towards the goal South Koreans returned to UEFA Champions League, the tion, giving Congo striker Walter but Elshenawy pulled out a stun- the Gulf state just six weeks crowning moment of a 2020 Bwalya a place in the starting XI ning save. after their triumph in Asia’s which also saw Hansi Flick’s instead of Mohamed Sherif or Four minutes later, Muntari top club competition. team win the Bundesliga, Marwan Mohsen. And it proved was once again in the thick of the Gignac slammed in a volley German Cup, UEFA Super to be an inspirational choice action but the Qatari midfi elder’s to level on 38 minutes after a Cup and German Super Cup. from the South African as Bwalya header off a corner went over the Tigres corner was fl icked on Now they are hoping to be- played a key role in Ahly’s goal. bar. That was the last real chance by Diego Reyes, and the CON- come the eighth consecutive The Cairo-based outfi t started Duhail could conjure, as Al Ahly CACAF Champions League European winner of the Club brightly and dominated pos- held on. winners went ahead in fi rst- World Cup, a run that start- session but couldn’t carve out a Duhail’s attacking approach half stoppage time. ed when Bayern themselves clear-cut opening until Bassam in the second half was evident as As Gignac rose to meet lifted the trophy in Morocco al-Rawi gifted them one. The Du- they had a whopping 15 attempts another corner his header in 2013. If they do so they hail centre-back lost the ball to with seven shots on target. Al struck the raised arm of Ulsan can — albeit with the caveat an alert Bwalya, who set it up for Ahly attempted just seven shots centre-back Kim, and Tigres that this competition is being Elshahat to fi re a low shot into the at goal with one shot on target but were awarded a penalty fol- played in a diff erent calendar bottom corner from just outside that was enough for them to set- lowing a VAR review. year — match the achieve- the penalty area. up a mouthwatering semi-fi nal The ex-Marseille forward ment of Pep Guardiola’s Bar- Just minutes later, Bwalya had against Bayern at the Ahmad Bin smacked the resulting spot- celona, who won six trophies the ball in the net but the goal Ali Stadium on Monday. kick low into the corner as in 2009. PREVIEW Olympics chief apologises, but refuses to resign over controversial comments Reuters organising committee into drop- to make sure their speaking time “I don’t talk to women that Tokyo ping Mori from the top post. is restricted somewhat, they have much lately so I don’t know,” Mori The 83-year-old Mori, a former diffi culty fi nishing, which is an- said, when asked by a reporter Japanese prime minister and head noying,” said Mori, according to whether he had any basis for say- okyo Olympics chief of the Tokyo organising com- the Asahi report. ing that women board members Yoshiro Mori yester- mittee, acknowledged that his “We have about seven wom- talked too much during meetings. day apologised for mak- comments that women board en at the organising committee Mori’s defi ant response is un- Ting sexist remarks about members talked too much were but everyone understands their likely to tamp down public criti- women, saying he retracted the “inappropriate” and against the place.” cism and anger over his com- comments and would not resign, Olympic spirit. In a hastily-called press brief- ments is likely to further alienate despite calls for him to step down Mori made the comments at ing, Mori tried to explain himself, a Japanese public that has grown on social media. a Japanese Olympic Committee at fi rst apologising, then later wary of Tokyo’s attempts to hold The hashtag “Mori, please re- (JOC) board of trustees meeting saying that he did not necessar- the Games during a pandemic. sign” was trending on Twitter in this week, according to a report in ily think that fretting over the Nearly 80% of the Japanese Japan yesterday and some users the Asahi newspaper. number of women in high-rank- public opposes holding the Games on the platform were calling on “If we increase the number of ing position was what was impor- as scheduled in July, according to sponsors to pressure the Tokyo female board members, we have tant. the most recent poll. Gulf Times 2 Friday, February 5, 2021 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Hosting Club World Cup big step in Qatar’s journey to 2022 The games being played in some of the FIFA World Cup stadiums has really added to the sense of occasion By Samuel Eto’o In recent years, the tournament has been dominated by the UEFA Champi- his week, the eyes of the world ons League winners and I think Bayern will be on Qatar, as it takes an- Munich will be going into the tour- other big step on its journey to nament full of confi dence that they the FIFA World Cup in 2022 by can take home the trophy.