HONG KONG, 22 September 2005 — Al-Ittihad went through to the semifinals but another Saudi club, Al-Ahli, failed to advance yesterday in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.
Shenzhen upset the odds and made it through to the semifinals thanks to the team’s mental strength, two-goal hero Li Yi.
The Chinese side overturned a 2-1 first leg deficit to beat Al Ahli 3-1 and advanced 4-3 on aggregate.
Waiting for them in the last four are Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates, who drew 3-3 after extra time with Iranian side Pas in Tehran to go through 4-4 on away goals. The other semifinal pits Korea’s Busan IPark, who edged Qatar’s Al Sadd 2-1 in Doha for a 5-1 aggregate score, against Saudi side Al-Ittihad, who crushed China’s Shandong 7-2 in Jeddah for an 8-3 aggregate win.
Marek Zajac gave Shenzen a sixth minute lead, with Li adding their second on the quarter of an hour when he latched on to a defense splitting pass to lift the ball over the advancing Al Bsisi. A stunning Hussain Sulaimani free-kick levelled the contest on aggregate but deep into the second period of extra-time, Li was picked out with a pinpoint pass from Li Ming, controlled the ball, took past a floundering Al Bsisi and slotted home his fifth ACL goal from the tightest of angles.
Li was relieved to end a personal goal drought that dates back over six-months.
“I can hardly put it into words as I have been under immense pressure given that I hadnt scored since March 9 when I scored against Jubilo Iwata in the ACL group opener.
“It was beyond imagination how embarrassing this feels for a striker so tonight I feel like like a long time dormant volcano erupting.”
The 26-year-old added: “Speaking frankly we are not the strongest side in Chinese Super League and we are not as financially sound as Shendong Luneng or Inter Shanghai but we have a deeply rooted never-say-die spirit and it was the mental strengths that carried us through so many stiff challenges.”
In Tehran Al Ain had to come from behind to book their semifinal ticket.
It was a cruel blow to Pas, who had dominated much of the first game in the UAE last week and who had done the same in Tehran, where Ain looked second best for all but the last 30 minutes.
Pas, the first Iranian side to make it to the last eight of Asias premier club competition, looked to be cruising toward a place in the last four after Arash Borhani, who scored Pas goal in the first leg, enhanced his growing reputation with a goal in either half to put Mustafa Denizilis men 2-0 up on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.
But Luis Tejada, voted the Most Valuable Player at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July, gave Milan Macalas men a lifeline with a penalty on 60 minutes after Mohammed Nosrati had brought down Nwoha Onyekachi just inside the box but, 11 minutes later, Issa Traore restored Pas two-goal cushion with a header from close range.
Al Ain, who won this competition in 2003, looked to be dead and buried but two goals from Helal Saeed, who missed last weeks game through injury, brought Al Ain back to 3-3 on the night, and 4-4 on aggregate.
Busan, coached by Scotsman Ian Porterfield, easily secured their place when goals from Lim Kwan-sik and Han Jae-woon put the tie beyond doubt, although Brazilian striker Emerson ruined their attempt to keep an eighth straight clean sheet when he headed in a consolation goal for Al Sadd in stoppage time.
