’s Wadha al Abdullah wins epee bronze at GCC Women’s Games PAGE 18 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019 So near, yet so far: win thriller 4-2, but miss out on final Wolves beat Al Hilal 4-2 in but lose AFC Champions League semis tie 6-5 on aggregate AFC/TNN RIYADH

A spirited Al Sadd narrowly missed out on the final of the AFC Champions League de- spite beating Al Hilal 4-2 at the King Saud University Sta- dium in Riyadh on Tuesday. In a thrilling encounter, Al Hilal advanced to the final with a 6-5 aggregate win over The Wolves, thanks to a first leg 4-1 victory in . Goals from , Nam Tae-Hee, Hassan al Haydos and Boualem Khouk- hi were not enough for The Wolves who needed one more goal to qualifyand avoid a second straight exit at this styage. Al Sadd were with- out and marksman Baghdad Bouned- jah due to suspension. With the advantage of a three-goal lead from the first leg and a huge crowd behind them, the home side took the Al Hilal defenders stave off an Al Sadd attack at the goal-mouth during the AFC Champions League second leg semi-final clash at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on Tuesday. game to their opponents from the start, and within five min- hee advanced into the penalty the half-volley to bring the ag- utes they had created their box, supplied it wide for Afif gregate score to 6-4 with just first big chance. Scoreline who crossed back into the box over an hour still to be played. Bafetimbi Gomis shot wide for Haydos. And if the first half was a on the half-volley inside the Al Sadd 4 (Akram Afif Al Sadd’s number 10 set up festival of goals on both sides, first 10 minutes, but it was Al 17’, Nam Tae-hee 19’, Nam with a cute flick and the the second was more of a dis- Hilal’s second time of asking Hassan al Haydos 20’, Korean midfielder controlled play of half chances and ‘near- which produced the opening 93’) and finished with his left past ly’ moments. goal of the night 12 minutes in. bt Al Hilal 2 (Salem al a helpless Mayouf. As the final whistle ap- Yasser al Shahrani drib- Haydos turned from pro- proached, Al Sadd were able bled down the left and crossed Dawsari 13’, Bafétimbi vider to scorer with Al Sadd’s to snatch a fifth goal through low towards the far post. The Gomis 25’). very next attack. Shahrani Boualem Khoukhi. ball was cleared by the Al Sadd failed to deal with a long ball, The defender rose highest defence but only as far as Sa- allowing Nam to advance on to power home a header, put- lem al Dawsari who controlled goal, his countryman Jang ting everyone at the ground on and fired home to make it 5-1 Hyn-soo made a tackle, but their nerve for the remaining on aggregate. only managed to send the ball minutes of added time. Three minutes later, Al into the path of Haydos who Al Sadd had a final chance Sadd were given a lifeline after drilled home Al Sadd’s third in to snatch the win but Nam’s Akram Afif was brought down the 20th minute to the shock last second free-kick was com- inside the box. Afif stepped up of the near-capacity home fortably held by Mayouf, con- to take the resulting penalty crowd at King Saud University firming Al Hilal’s place in the himself and drilled it into the Stadium. final for the third time after bottom right corner despite The mood swiftly changed 2014 and 2017. Abdullah al Mayouf’s best ef- from stunned frustration to They face the winners of forts to save. unanimous joy followed by the Guangzhou Evergrande- There were more goals a collective sigh of relief as Urawa Red Diamonds semi- to come soon after; Al Faraj Gomis got on the end of a final, with the first leg was dispossessed near the Sebastian Giovinco diagonal taking place in Riyadh on halfway line and Nam Tae- Al Sadd striker Nam Tae-hee in action during the match. He was named as the man of the match for his super performance. pass, guiding the ball home on November 9.

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