New Voice
04-13-2000, 04:34 PM
Al Zawra (IRQ) 1 Novbakhor (UZB) 1
Chiangmai, Thailand (13.4.00)
ast-minute replacements Novbakhor took Al Zawra to extra-time in their Asian Cup Winners' Cup final, but couldn't prevent them becoming only the second Iraqi side to reach a final of an Asian club competition.
Reinstated in the tournament with just two weeks notice after the controversial withdrawal of Saudi club Al Ahli, the Uzbek club took the lead thanks to a terrible error by the Zawra keeper. Rather than dive at the feet of the onrushing attackers, Sa'ad Jamil chose to deal with a low angled cross with his feet and the ball fell to the feet of Sherzod Nazarov, who was left with a simple tap-in to open the scoring after 36 minutes.
Novbakhor, who lost three key players to injury before making the trip to Thailand, looked likely to take that lead into half-time, but in the final minute of the period the Iraqi scored thanks to an excellently delivered free kick. Mahir Radhi drifted a delightful cross to the far post and the head of Husham Fiead who noddeed the ball back across the face of the goal for Ahmed Sabie to knee the ball into the roof of the net from point blank range.
Zawra came out stronger in the second half and almost took the lead after 48 minutes, when Kadhum Abdullah produced another excellent free kick which Ahmed Sabie headed narrowly over.
As the game wore on keeper Dmitry Bashkevich came to Novbakhor's rescue with two fine saves. Firstly in the 70th minute he pushed away Husham Fiead's 25 yard drive and rode his luck as Hashim Muhammed smashed the rebound against the angle of post and crossbar. Then with just eight minutes of normal time remaining Bashkevich got his finger tips to Fiead's header to push the ball past the far post and the game into extra-time.
However the big Uzbek keeper could do nothing to prevent the golden goal that won the tie for Zawra in the 12th minute of extra time. Bashkevich was sent diving as Riyadh Khirbeerit's shot struck sweeper Konstantin Galchenko. The Uzbek number five also managed to make contact with man of the match Husham Fiead's hooked volley, but with Bashkevich still struggling to his feet Galchenko could only watch the ball dribble across the line sending Zawra through to meet Shimizu S-Pulse of Japan in the final.
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Quotes:
Al Zawra coach Adnan Hamed and Novbakhor coach Viktor Djalilev comment on their Asian Cup Winners' Cup semi-final, which Zawra won 2-1 with a golden goal in extra time.
Viktor Djalilov - Coach of Novbakhor
We didn't have any special preparations for this tournament, so I'm satisfied that the players did their best during this game. We recognised that Al Zawra are a very strong side and they were very strong in this game. They showed a bit aggression and commitment than our players.
We had three key players injured in our last league match, including the internationals Leonid Koshilev and Anwar Salif, plus our players did not have any time to recover from the long journey here. If those three players had played in this match then it would have been different.
Everyone can see that the Japanese and Iraqi teams are a little better than our team. And that's why those teams won their matches.
I think in the final either team can win.
We should have played our system better than we did, but I think our team did well. I hope in the future we will have our best players available and then we will do mujch better in the Asian competitions.
Adnan Hamed - Coach of Al Zawra
We played a strong match and my team were the best. We had many chances to score and we could have won without extra time.
The Uzbek's goal should not have been a goal because I think three players were offside, but I think there was also some problem with our defence.
We respect Uzbek football and we have a good relationship with Uzbekistan. We are the same as Novbakhor.
We knew we would have a very hard match, but we were sure we would have a good result. We had many, many chances to win and we missed many of them, but this is football.
Now we're going to the final against a very strong Japanese team. They played the best and I respect their coach and team.
Talaba lost to Bellmare in 1995, but that was in Tokyo and this is in a different area. This is in Thailand.
Chiangmai, Thailand (13.4.00)
ast-minute replacements Novbakhor took Al Zawra to extra-time in their Asian Cup Winners' Cup final, but couldn't prevent them becoming only the second Iraqi side to reach a final of an Asian club competition.
Reinstated in the tournament with just two weeks notice after the controversial withdrawal of Saudi club Al Ahli, the Uzbek club took the lead thanks to a terrible error by the Zawra keeper. Rather than dive at the feet of the onrushing attackers, Sa'ad Jamil chose to deal with a low angled cross with his feet and the ball fell to the feet of Sherzod Nazarov, who was left with a simple tap-in to open the scoring after 36 minutes.
Novbakhor, who lost three key players to injury before making the trip to Thailand, looked likely to take that lead into half-time, but in the final minute of the period the Iraqi scored thanks to an excellently delivered free kick. Mahir Radhi drifted a delightful cross to the far post and the head of Husham Fiead who noddeed the ball back across the face of the goal for Ahmed Sabie to knee the ball into the roof of the net from point blank range.
Zawra came out stronger in the second half and almost took the lead after 48 minutes, when Kadhum Abdullah produced another excellent free kick which Ahmed Sabie headed narrowly over.
As the game wore on keeper Dmitry Bashkevich came to Novbakhor's rescue with two fine saves. Firstly in the 70th minute he pushed away Husham Fiead's 25 yard drive and rode his luck as Hashim Muhammed smashed the rebound against the angle of post and crossbar. Then with just eight minutes of normal time remaining Bashkevich got his finger tips to Fiead's header to push the ball past the far post and the game into extra-time.
However the big Uzbek keeper could do nothing to prevent the golden goal that won the tie for Zawra in the 12th minute of extra time. Bashkevich was sent diving as Riyadh Khirbeerit's shot struck sweeper Konstantin Galchenko. The Uzbek number five also managed to make contact with man of the match Husham Fiead's hooked volley, but with Bashkevich still struggling to his feet Galchenko could only watch the ball dribble across the line sending Zawra through to meet Shimizu S-Pulse of Japan in the final.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quotes:
Al Zawra coach Adnan Hamed and Novbakhor coach Viktor Djalilev comment on their Asian Cup Winners' Cup semi-final, which Zawra won 2-1 with a golden goal in extra time.
Viktor Djalilov - Coach of Novbakhor
We didn't have any special preparations for this tournament, so I'm satisfied that the players did their best during this game. We recognised that Al Zawra are a very strong side and they were very strong in this game. They showed a bit aggression and commitment than our players.
We had three key players injured in our last league match, including the internationals Leonid Koshilev and Anwar Salif, plus our players did not have any time to recover from the long journey here. If those three players had played in this match then it would have been different.
Everyone can see that the Japanese and Iraqi teams are a little better than our team. And that's why those teams won their matches.
I think in the final either team can win.
We should have played our system better than we did, but I think our team did well. I hope in the future we will have our best players available and then we will do mujch better in the Asian competitions.
Adnan Hamed - Coach of Al Zawra
We played a strong match and my team were the best. We had many chances to score and we could have won without extra time.
The Uzbek's goal should not have been a goal because I think three players were offside, but I think there was also some problem with our defence.
We respect Uzbek football and we have a good relationship with Uzbekistan. We are the same as Novbakhor.
We knew we would have a very hard match, but we were sure we would have a good result. We had many, many chances to win and we missed many of them, but this is football.
Now we're going to the final against a very strong Japanese team. They played the best and I respect their coach and team.
Talaba lost to Bellmare in 1995, but that was in Tokyo and this is in a different area. This is in Thailand.