What i've seen in this 2nd leg match, Al Hilal played complacently with no eager and / or motivation to win.
It was boring match ..Apart from the dubious penalty I did not see even Persopolis giving a fight to Hilal on any minute..
Its Japanese club and will be tough ..Classic Saudi vs Japanese club match to be expected . But I see Urawa taking it ..
You can say that but the real score line should have been at least 3-1 for Persepolis. 1. One wrong PK for Hilal 2. One obvious hand band by Hilali Defender within the box which blocked the goal should have been called a PK for Persepolis. You can see here what I am talking about. http://tamasha.com/v/qBRlW There was a slim chance for Persepolis to turn the tide but that BS penalty call killed the tempo.
Al Hilal went up as western Asian representative and I think they had a better team compared to Persepolis but the aggregated result should be 5-3 to be fair or even less if we had our top scorer not being banned prior our match with Al Hilal. I believe the Japanese side is a little stronger so they will be champion this time around. May the best team win and represents AFC well in Clubs World Cup!
First Leg Final - Hilal 1 - 1 Urawa Red Diamonds. Hilal as usual chokes again in international championship. Should have one by 3 goal margin if luck was on there side . Urawa is back with a away goal in bag plus a return home game. I see a lot to play in second leg, but Urawa will be favourites..
Omar Kharbin many sitters that should have had been easily tapped in by any renowned forward, why shot at the goal keeper directly when you can pass the ball beside the goal keeper's either side. He missed 2 to 3 golden opportunities. Also, why didn't Hilal introduced Rivas when he is also one of the lethal striker and can score goals on many occasion when required ?
Omar Kharbin is an average striker. He took full advantage of Persepolis GK being in his downward fitness (in past 4 years) and our crappy CB Shoja Khalilzadeh who is now the Achilles heel of entire team causing many goals and PK against the team . Otherwise, Kharbin whould be sitting on 3-4 goals. You guys have much better players in your squad.
Rivas is not registered in the ACL squad and cannot be registered now too..Gelmin was bought to score against week defence of Saudi clubs and keep Hilal afloat in the league..
Oh finally the competition is over and as usual no shocker Hilal chokes in the international competition. No Eduardo No party !! Congrats Urawa !!
Hilal was on the back foot before the beginning of the match due to draw in Riyadh. Can't believe that Hilal controlled the game so much and that too against a Japanese team which historically have had a great deal of possession in the historical matches but this was not the case in both legs this time around. Yet, Hilal lost the match. Also, I felt that the center-back of Hilal (Osama Howsavi) is slow in moving the ball and wastes a lot of precious seconds when he simply needs to play the ball either to mid-field or up-front. Abdullah Al Hafidh seems to be the right replacement for Osama Howsavi (who should retire as he don't have the legs and common sense to defend when he's the last defender on the pitch... he simply gifted the opportunity to Silva in the Urawa Red's goal... What stupidity committed by him when he was simply required to hold the player for back-up from either Jahafli Or shahrani Or Baraik... Also, Al Hilal forwards should start hitting / shooting at target instead of trying to become Barcelona upfront ... I mean the ticky-tacka can be done in the mid-field but someone should starting shooting on target like Salem Al Dowsary did in the first half, he almost scored the opening goal for Al Hilal but was not lucky, the Urawa's goal keeper was totally beaten at that occasion. Anyways, it's back to the drawing board for Al Hilal, and congrats to Urawa Red for the victory even though they were technically the 2nd best team on the field behind Hilal. Hilal still is the best team from Saudi Arabia and Ahli is the 2nd best team in Saudi Arabia. Aferwards, it's Nasr and Tawoon while Ittihad is in rebuilding process. Hilal should look to bring in a mid-fielder (Thiago Neves if possible), a foward and a Central Defender in this upcoming transfer window. Hilal should let go of Uruguay's Britos as he did not impressed at all. Also, Habsi should be replaced with any good defender. Hilal already has wonderful goalkeeper in shape of Mayuf so why need Habsi ?... Hilal have missed Shamrani in this match IMO.
The AFC ruling for Iranian clubs to only play in a third country when facing Saudi teams, was a biased call from this disgrace of confederation. I hope to not see this kind of treatment for any Asian club. AFC forced Persepolis to play in Oman or Qatar where it is close to Saudi Arabia and has Arab fans plus the weather condition favors Saudi teams. So basically Iranian clubs had two away matches all the times. AFC should end this BS.
Here's riddle for you, guys. Qatar will have 3 direct slots in the 2018 ACL. Which FA with direct access to the group stage will be entering less teams than their allocated quota?