05 Feb 2019
Doha, 4 February 2019. The 2019 edition of the „Al Kass International Cup“ started for Aspire Academy‘s U17 side with a 1-0 defeat in their opening game against Raja Casablanca.
The Qatari, coached by Fabio Montesin, had the first good opportunities in the game, but a good shot by Khaled Bin Sabaa‘s went over the crossbar (20‘), as well as Alhadhrami-free-kick (31‘). In the 37th minute Raja-player Abdennabi scored after a good save from Aspire-keeper Balideh, but VAR showed that the Morrocan came from an offside position, so the goal did not count.
Aspire‘s goalkeeper showed his skills again two minutes later when he denied a shot and a header from Smaili (39‘). Nonetheless, seconds before halftime he could not prevent Raja from scoring the lead thanks to a Zemraoui-penalty following a hand-ball (45‘). Also in this decission, the VAR was involved.
In the second half, Raja had good chances to double their lead, when Babah missed two good chances within one minute (54‘). Then, Aspire almost found it‘s way back into the game, but a shot from Alhadhrami was cleared on the line by a Raja-defender (62‘). The red card for Aiash was another set-back for the Qatari (66‘). Nonethesless, they did not give up and Tombari‘s shot came close to equalize, but was saved by the keeper (82‘).
In the final minutes of the game, Aspire‘s Kadira was also sent off receiving his second yellow card (88‘) and Raja had no problems to defend their lead against 9 players.