A Roma player scores a goal past the Kashiwa Reysol goalkeeper during the Al Kass Cup Under-17 football tournament at Aspire Zone yesterday.
Doha: Aspire Academy claimed a splendid 3-1 win against a highly fancied Glasgow Rangers team at the Al Kass Cup Under-17 football tournament at Aspire Zone yesterday.
The result means that both sides progress into the knockout stages.
Aspire’s pacey winger Mekki Tombari caught the eye early on with a series of lung-bursting runs down the wing, while Khalid Bin Sabaa saw plenty of the ball and showed some deft touches.
And, on 15 minutes, Tombari got in behind the Rangers defence down the right and crossed for midfielder Fahad Al-Abdulla to slot home on the rebound, after his first effort was saved.
Chances continued to stack up for both sides, with Al-Abdulrahman skewing horribly wide when the ball fell to him unmarked on the edge of the area. However, just after the hour mark, he atoned for this miss to send the home support wild. Murray Miller was put under pressure in a central position 30 yards out, and he played a backpass straight to Al-Abdulrahman, who was loitering with intent on the edge of the box. The Qatari forward gratefully accepted the gift, sliding the ball under keeper Hogarth to put Aspire two up.
Rangers were knocking on the door, and got a goal back soon after, when Arron Lyall got away down the right and cut back for fellow substitute Matt Yates to chest down and plant a fine effort into the roof of the net.
Suddenly a draw looked on the cards but, incredibly, Fahad Al Abdulla restored Aspire’s two-goal lead straight from the restart in spectacular fashion. His superb turn and shot from the edge of the area went in off the post to spark delirium in the stands.
Meanwhile, Roma clinched top spot in Group B with a two-goal victory over last year’s runners-up Kashiwa Reysol at Aspire Zone yesterday. The result suited both teams as Kashiwa still progress from the group stages at the expense of reigning champions PSG, due to the three-time winners crashing 5-2 against Roma two days earlier.
It was a game of two halves as Japanese side Kashiwa were the better side in the opening 45 minutes, but after the break Roma began to show the class that had torn PSG to pieces.
Kashiwa started brightly, with Seitoamanueru Omori (twice), Naito Saito and Takuma Otake all trying their luck at goal.
For all the pressure by Kashiwa, it was Roma who almost took the lead after half-an-hour when Riccardo Ciervo cut in from the right and fired a left-foot shot beyond the keeper’s outstretched hand but it bounced back off the underside of the bar.
Kashiwa enjoyed 56% possession in the first half but Roma looked much brighter in the second half and Matteo Cancellieri got plenty of power behind a long-range effort but it was comfortably saved.
Ten minutes into the second half Roma took the lead when Nicola Zalewski received the ball out on the left and he burst into penalty area before unleashing a low drive that gave the keeper no chance.
Cancellieri had another opportunity on goal midway through the second half but his free-kick failed to trouble the keeper.
Kashiwa had netted a last-gasp equalizer against PSG in their opening match but any hopes of snatching anything from this game disappeared when they conceded a penalty in the fourth and final minute of added on time.
The decision, made with the assistance of VAR, was given for handball and Daniel Tueto Fotso stepped up to give Massato Sasaki no chance with his spot-kick.
The result was no less than Roma deserved with Tommaso Milanese pulling the strings in midfield, and they can now look forward to Monday’s quarter-finals with confidence.
