Al Sadd completed a late comeback to lift the league title and will have to follow suit to complete a treble following continental exit.
Al Sadd will turn their attention to completing a domestic treble, head coach Felix Sanchez said after the Qatari side’s quarter-final exit from the AFC Champions League Elite.
The reigning Ooredoo Stars League champions suffered a 3-2 loss in extra time at the hands of Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale in Riyadh on Monday. Al Sadd were the last Qatari side remaining in the competition.
“We still have two trophies left to compete for this season, and we aim to win them,” Sanchez said, referring to two local knockout tournaments, the Amir Cup and Qatar Cup.
Al Sadd will face second-division side Al Kharaitiyat in the last 16 of the Amir Cup on May 6, before locking horns with arch-rivals Al Duhail in the Qatar Cup finale four days later.
Sanchez’s side will have to recover from the heartbreak suffered against the Japanese side, where they managed to level the score twice but eventually succumbed to a goal in the eighth minute of extra time.
It was a game of fine margins, the Spaniard later admitted, adding that “details made the difference.”
“We didn’t start the way we wanted, and didn’t feel comfortable. We conceded goals that could have been avoided. I believe we tried, but the task wasn’t easy,” he said.
Despite conceding early in the fourth minute, Paulo Otavio levelled the scores just five minutes later at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium. The Japanese side then restored the lead through Marcinho’s strike in the 21st minute.
Although Al Sadd had to wait until the 71st minute to level the scores again, new signing Claudinho’s strike came after a period that saw the Qatari side dominate.
Yet, it all came down to Yasuto Wakizaka’s 98th-minute decider, which came after capitalising on Al Sadd midfielder Guilherme’s underhit pass.
“This is football — mistakes happen and are part of the game,” he added, when asked about individual errors during the game that the Spaniard had termed equivalent to a “final” beforehand.
Kawasaki will now face Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr for a spot in the finale, whereas an all-Saudi clash between Al Hilal and Al Ahli will decide the other finalist.
Tricky campaign comes to an end
Al Sadd’s run up to the quarterfinals was not as straightforward as it seemed on paper, however. Behind the scenes, the club had to juggle through player registration issues, like the other two Qatari sides that entered the competition: Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa.
Qatari sides participating in continental competition, including ACL Two-bound Al Wakrah, were granted permission to exceed the domestic league’s foreigner quota of seven players after the start of the season.
“The failure to complete the signings ahead of the QSL [Qatar Stars League] seems to have affected each team,” Ahmed Hashim, editor of Qatari football outlet QFootLive, had told Doha News in September, alluding to the struggle that the sides were going through to integrate new signings into their playing system.
It showed on the pitch too, as Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa struggled to get their footing in the competition. Al Sadd were the exception, yet they too found it tricky, head coach Sanchez had said.
Standout performers in ACL Elite, Morocco national team captain Romain Saiss and Algerian full-back Youcef Atal, were not registered to play in the domestic league for a sizeable chunk of the season.
“It is tough physically to compete at this level when you have that break in the rhythm,” Sanchez said in February after the side’s defeat against Al Ahli Saudi.
“It is difficult, of course, since players can lack rhythm when it is like that. We need to manage the situation for us to be in a good position in the league and the Champions League.”
Sanchez had praised the players’ professionalism and understanding on the face of the whole saga. The former Qatar national team head coach reiterated that sentiment after the defeat on Monday, adding that he was “proud” of the squad.
“I cannot blame the players,” he said. “Their desire to win is clear; they have a strong mentality, and I have no reproach towards them.”
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