Sharjah qualified for the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League 2 after defeating their guest, Al Ahli Youth, in a penalty shootout 5-4, following a 1-1 draw in regular and extra time in a marathon match that ended with Sharjah’s joy, which lasted until Thursday morning.
In the details of the match, Sharjah succeeded in scoring the opening goal and ending the first half in their favor, despite the advantage shown by Al Ahli Youth at the beginning, as they almost took the lead early on. However, the referee ruled an offside on the player Matheus Lima two minutes into the match. Then, Adel Al Hosani, the Sharjah goalkeeper, thwarted a one-on-one chance from Lima in the seventh minute.
The 35th minute brought good news for Sharjah, when Marcos Meloni scored the opening goal with an individual effort, surpassing the Shabab Al-Ahli defense and shooting into the far corner to the right of the goalkeeper. The first yellow card appeared for Shabab Al-Ahli defender Renan after he deliberately obstructed Kaio Lucas near the box in the 41st minute.
Shabab Al-Ahli exerted a lot of pressure on Sharjah’s goal in the final minutes of the first half. Adel Al-Hosani saved two consecutive chances, the first from Luka’s shot and the second from Kartabia’s one-on-one. Then, in the last seconds, there was a third chance from a free kick in the corner of the goal executed by Kartabia, but Al-Hosani brilliantly saved it, ending the first half with Sharjah leading 1-0.
In the course of the second half, Cosmin, the coach of Sharjah, made his first substitution by bringing in Peru in the 60th minute instead of Khaled Al-Zanahani. Afterwards, Al-Ahli youth player Bogdan received a yellow card for a foul against Adel Taarabt in the 63rd minute.
In the final minutes, Sousa made two substitutions, bringing in Yahya Al-Ghassani instead of Yuri Cesar, and Kwan Santos instead of Matheus Henrique. Kosmin responded with two substitutions as well, bringing in Mohamed Abdel-Baset instead of Adel Taarabt, and Maro Katnik instead of Shaheen Abdul-Rahman. Then, Shabab Al-Ahli made a fourth substitution, bringing in Moanes Dabbour instead of Luka, while Sharjah made two substitutions, bringing in Abdullah Ghanem instead of Marcos Meloni, and Luan Pereira instead of Majed Hassan.
The match reached its peak of excitement until the end of regular time, then the referee awarded 9 minutes of stoppage time, which witnessed the highest levels of excitement when substitute Munas Dabbur scored the equalizer with a header into the top of the net in the 90+4 minute.
The match ended in a draw, leading both teams to play in extra time, which ended its first half without any danger or impactful attacks. Meanwhile, Sharjah missed a scoring opportunity at the beginning of the second half of extra time when Kayo Lucas found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper Hamad Al-Maqbali. Then Kayo had a second chance, shooting from a distance but it went over the goal, ending extra time in a draw and leading to a penalty shootout.
Shabab Al-Ahli started the scoring with Sardar Azmoun, and Kayou Lucas equalized for Sharjah by scoring the first penalty kick, despite goalkeeper Hamad Al-Maqbali’s attempt to save it. Then, Shabab Al-Ahli took the lead with the second penalty kick by Cartabia, and Firas Al-Arabi equalized for Sharjah. Finally, Yahya Al-Ghasani scored the third penalty kick for Shabab Al-Ahli, before Luan Pereira equalized the score.
Kwan Santos missed the fourth penalty, which was brilliantly saved by Adel Al Hosani, allowing Sharjah to take the lead with their fourth penalty by Mohammed Abdul Basit. Lima then scored the fifth penalty for Al Ahli Youth, and substitute Biro succeeded in sealing the victory by scoring the fifth penalty for Sharjah, followed by great joy from the Sharjah fans and players.
