22 Jan 2018
Doha, 22 January 2018. Aspire Academy dominated play but only managed to pick a point against Chinese outfit, Guangzhou Evergrande during the host team’s opening match of Al Kass International Cup 2018. Aspire came out of blocks charging and almost scored from kick off but goalkeeper He Lipan divided to his right to stop a goal- bound shot. More early pressure on Guangzhou goal saw Aspire hit the cross bar during a period of relentless onslaught on their opponents’ goal.
Twenty-two (22) minutes into the match Guangzhou had weathered some of the pressure and against the run of play scored the opening goal. The visitors earned a free-kick on the edge of the box and Aspire goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada’s attempted stop rolled to Tan Kaiyuan who slotted home much to the delight of Guangzhou.
Aspire Academy continued probing and were duly rewarded with an equalizer just before half time when midfielder Naif Alhadhrami rifled home from inside the box. Aspire resumed the second half determined to convert possession into goals but as the clock ticked away, the players rushed chances and focus dwindled. Aspire literally camped in Guangzhou half but failed to get the much needed second goal and the match fizzled into a 1-1 draw. Aspire head coach, Unai Melgosa Zorrilla felt his players made too many unforced errors against Guangzhou. “The first match in a home tournament can be unnerving and the boys didn’t play as well as they are capable of. The decision making especially in the final third could have been better but these are things we will work on before the next game against Benfica.”
His counterpart from Guangzhou, Roberto Rojos said after the game, “After yesterday’s lessons learnt against Benfica, l was happy with our performance tonight against Aspire. My boys were more composed and competed well even though Aspire dominated the game. It is pleasing to score our first goal and get our first point. We knew we would be playing against good teams in this tournament and we know we can only get better by playing better teams so this is good progress for us.”
Aspire returns to action against Benfica on Wednesday 24 January.