28 Jan 2018
Doha, 28 January 2018. The Aspire derby match in the 2018 Al Kass International Cup ended 1- 0 in favour of Aspire Football Dreams over Aspire Academy on Sunday 28th January at Aspire Academy. On a bitterly cold and windy evening the players found themselves contending with the conditions as well as the opponents.
AFD were back playing less than 24 hours after going down 4-2 to PSG in a dramatic quarter-final penalty shootout and coach Serine Dia made some changes, giving other players a chance and the usual team rhythm was not as fluid and although AFD bossed possession they were not a real threat to Aspire goal. To their credit both teams battled on with Academy keeper Mahmoud Abunada thwarting the attempts on goal from AFD. Also effective and energetic in the opening stages was AFD’s Isaac Nuhu and on 12 minutes could have opened the scoring after his free-kick was heading into goal until Abunada intervened with a fine save
In the second half it got more windy and they football degenerated with players resorting to punting and running and on many an occasion stray passes and over-hit crosses were the order of play. The game was calling for some individual brilliance to unlock the goals and come midway in the second half that moment arrived when Academy goalkeeper Abunada played out the ball to his team mate and defender, Abdulla Al-Ali who chose to dribble his way past AFD forward Sibiry Keita but was robbed of the ball by the latter who went on to cut inside and lash out a hard ground shot into the bottom of the right-hand corner for the match’s only goal.
Both coaches made some changes in an effort get more from the match but it was still AFD who looked like adding to the score line while it was becoming more challenging for the Academy players who had the wind against them to launch any meaningful attacks in the hush conditions.
Football Dreams hung on for a slander 1 nil win and will face the winner of Real Madrid versus AC Milan encounter for 5 and 6th place, while Academy plays the loser of the Real Madrid /AC Milan for 7 and 8th place.