Mustafa Eldeeb (Abu Dhabi)
Al Ain achieved a well-deserved victory over New Zealand’s Auckland City, with six goals to two, in the match that brought them together at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium at the opening of the Intercontinental Cup for Clubs.
The Asian champion, Al-Zaeem, will face the African champion, Al-Ahly of Egypt, in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on October 29. The winner will meet the winner of the match between the South American champion and the Mexican Pachuca, the North American champion, which will be held in the Qatari capital, Doha, on December 11.
The winner of the second match, which will be held in Cairo, will be crowned the Africa-Asia-Pacific Cup, the first prize of the tournament, while the final match of the tournament will be held on December 18 in the Qatari capital, Doha, and the first party will be Real Madrid of Spain, the European Champions League champion.
Al Ain’s goals were scored by Carsudo in the sixth minute, Sekou Baba in the 11th minute, Matheus Palacios in the first minute of stoppage time in the first half, Soufiane Rahimi (two goals) in the 78th and fourth minutes of stoppage time in the second half, and Camu in the second minute of stoppage time in the second half as well, while Auckland City’s goals were scored by Gerso Lagos in the 41st minute, and Bevan Meyer in the 55th minute.
The match was easy for Al Ain in the first half, after they scored two goals in just 11 minutes. The “Boss” dominated the “first half” of the match almost completely, and defensive errors played a role in the New Zealand team scoring the first goal.
In the second half, Al Ain’s performance slowed down, the offensive performance declined, and the visiting players took advantage of another mistake, with Bevan Mater scoring the second goal.
Al Ain tried to come back with the difference again, and wasted a number of opportunities, until the “substitute” Soufiane Rahimi succeeded in scoring the fourth goal in the 78th minute, with a wonderful header, which was the reason for deciding the match in favor of “Al-Zaeem”, after Auckland was close to equalizing in a number of counterattacks in the second half.
The fourth goal gave Al Ain players more confidence, and Kaku succeeded in scoring the fifth goal, with a wonderful shot from the edge of the area, in the second minute of stoppage time, before Soufiane Rahimi added the sixth goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, to end the match with a “six-goal Al Ain” that advanced “Al Zaeem”, the Asian champion, to face the African champion.
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