The first game of the tour, at
the Al-Ahli stadium took place
the day the squad arrived in
Qatar. The pre-match routine was
coupled with eager minds and
bodies ready to get firing in
their red KU jerseys.
The match kicked off under
lights with KU playing intense
from the start, closing down the
oppsoition and making life
difficult for the home team. KU
never allowed the home team to
get into rythm, and continuously
managed to get in behind the
oppositions defence.
The first few of many chances
fell to strikers Maaz and
Shaezer who unfortunately did
not manage to hit the back of
the net, with pretty tame shots.
Then came another brilliant
opportunity for Usman Saad after
he ran through on goal with some
good interchanges in the middle,
and one on one with the goalie,
he squandered the chance by
hitting it wide. Whereas the
Al-Ahli players did not manage
to get too many clear
opportunities as compared to KU,
the deadlock remained as the
first half ticked by. Soon
towards the end of the first
half KU players began to tire
slightly, with Usman Saad having
to go off with cramps. Mikaeel
Naseer replaced him and added
some creativity on the left
wing, and linked up well with
Zaid, as KU kept managining to
get in behind the Al-Ahli
defence from the wings, yet to
no end product. Half time
arrived with the score at 0-0.
KU shuffled around their
players, mostly the front two
and the wingers and kept the
opposition defence guessing.
Zaid got an excellent
opportunity to score with a long
kick from goalkeeper Danny, but
again, the KU finishing was not
up to mark, and Zaid and many
more kept on missing the back of
the net.
The start of the second half
saw KU string together some good
passing moves, switching the
ball from left to right and
getting the ball into the box
creating many problems for the
opposition, yet still nothing to
show on the scoreline. After
around 65 minutes into the game,
Taimoor Mukaty ran through on
goal as the Al Ahli goalkeeper
came rushing outside the box and
handled it, resulting in a
straight sending off. However,
KU did not manage to take
advantage and conceded a penalty
of a handball from a corner,
which was slotted home in the
corner by an Al-Ahli player.
1-0 down unfortunately, and
slowly KU lost the momentum they
had intially and went down 2-0
just minutes later from a
brilliant long range effort by
the Al-Ahli midfielder. KU still
continued to create chances,
with Mikaeel Naseer, Zaid Kerai
and Shaezar with brilliant
movement and interchanges
between them but still no goal.
Mikaeel Naseer was even brought
down in the box, but no penalty
given. KU got a corner which
went narrowly wide and from the
resulting corner Al-Ahli breaked
quickly with KU out of shape,
resulting in a goal. KU 3-0
down, and soon the final whistle
blew, a good KU performance, and
in the end the scoreline did not
reflect on the game.
Player Ratings
Danny Gilani - 8 (Man of the
match)
Ali Haider - 6
Moiz Salahuddin - 7
Amaan Saeed - 7
Fahim Sachak - 6.5
Usman Saad - 4
Kareem Kerai - 6.5
Atif Sachak - 5
Zaid Kerai - 6.5
Shaezer Razi - 6
Maaz Shafi - 5
Taimoor Mukaty - 6.5
Hamza Jawaid - 5.5
Hammad Askari - 6.5
Ben Plant - 5
