Taubate register first win of Super Globe against Ahli

By Yash Mudgal/Doha

In a keenly-contested match, the Brazilian club staved off a determined effort by Qatar Cup champions to finish the group in third place. Both the teams were already out of contention for the semi-finals, so the contest was more for consolation.

After losing to Asian champions El Jaish and European champions Flensburg, Ahli’s clear objective was to finish the preliminary round with a win. So the Doha side started fast, furious and determined, backed by the splendid support from the stands.

Despite a four goal deficit at the end of first- half (12-16), Al Ahli never gave up and showed great character, drawing even at 22 in the 49th minute. Unfortunately for the Doha team, they couldn’t manage to turn the match around completely. Even the six goals by their top-scorer Jorge Pavan were not enough for Ahli to turn the tide.

Daniel Bonfim, Cleber Andrade and Andre Ribeiro – who each scored six times – were crucial in Taubate’s victory. The 2013 semi-finallists again showed a strong defensive performance to keep the Ahli attackers far away from their goal.

“Today we played much better and therefore we managed to score our first win. I am very happy for the boys. Our defence was solid and that allowed us to run with a series of fast breaks and score easy goals,” Taubate coach Marcus Oliveira said.

Taubate player Guilherme Oliveira also echoed his coach’s view as he said: “I am happy we finally won a game at the Super Globe. Our defence was good and we pushed hard until the end. I hope we will continue in the same way in our next matches.”

Ahli coach Mihailo Radosavljevic admitted his side was not ready to take on top teams at the world class event.

“We felt very tired today, which I think is normal, due to the lack of proper preparation and the injuries we came up against too. Now we will rest and see if we can win our next game. Overall Al Ahli was not ready for this level of competition,” he said.

Ahli’s Marko Bagaric also agreed that their team was not well prepared for top teams. “The problem with our team is that too many players came as reinforcements in the last ten days. In all the matches we played well in the first half, but in the second we were missing power, energy, stamina and we counted mostly on individual skills rather than on team effort.

“Although we are out of the semi-finals and we will play for places 5-8. We are still motivated and we aim to win the remaining matches,” he added.