23 Jan 2018
Doha, 23 January 2018. Aspire Football Dreams played out a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid during match 8 of the 2018 Al Kass International Cup at Aspire Academy. Both sides played at a canter after qualification has already been secured, thanks to both wining against Fenerbahce, the third team in group B of the competition.
AFD head coach Serine Dia made only one change to his previous starting line-up, with Momodou Jallow slotting in at the back in place of Djakaria Barro. In contrast, perhaps mindful of the demanding Al Kass schedule, Madrid head coach Manuel Fernandez rung the changes for this match. Only two players – centre backs Sergio Santos and Javier Domniguez – survived from the previous first eleven who featured against Fenerbahce.
It was Madrid who opened the scoring on 23 minutes when Eneko Gines swung a free kick in from the left and it was only partially cleared and fell kindly to Domniguez who reacted quickest and shot the bouncing ball into the roof of the net.
AFD were playing their positive brand of possession football and patiently probed the opponents seeking for the equalizer. An intriguing battle of AFD attack versus Madrid defence ensued. But on the stroke of half time, AFD were level thanks to Christian Otabil’s goal. He danced his way into the penalty area down from the left wing deftly evading a last-ditch challenge before slotting past Real keeper Toni Ribera for his second goal of the tournament, and set the stage for the second 45 minutes.
The second half might not have produced further goals but it wasn’t lacking in entertaining football and the game remained hugely competitive. Approaching the hour mark, Aspire had the ball in the net, only for an offside flag to intervene.
As the match wore on and with mutual qualification assured, the pace inevitably dropped away in the game’s final quarter, with both sides seemingly content to treat the remainder of the game as a competitive training exercise.
AFD team captain Leslie Adeniah picked up Most Valuable Player of the match and said afterwards, “We are familiar with Real Madrid and respect them as worthy opponents and current holders of the Cup. We didn’t want to lose this game even though we knew both teams were through to the next round. Our coach implored us to enjoy and give it our best and that’s how we are approaching each game. One match at a time we are targeting the final and then see how we do.”
In the knockout phase, few teams will relish being drawn against AFD or Real Madrid, and both sides will doubtless be grateful for an opportunity to hone their tactics, as the business end of the tournament awaits.