Both Uzbek football clubs fail to advance into the next round of AFC
AFC Champions League
May 17
AFC Champions League Group Matches.
Al Ain - Mash'al 2:1. Nenad Jestrovic 35, 45 - Zafar Kholmurodov 23
Al Ain lived up to their top billing with a clinical 2-1 demolition of Al Mash'al of Uzbekistan to reach their fourth successive AFC Champions League quarter-final since the inception of Asia's most prestigious club competition three years ago.
Serbia and Montenegro international Nenad Jestrovic scored twice after Zafar Kholmurodov had drawn first blood for Mash'al in the decisive Group B match at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed stadium on Wednesday.
The result took Al Ain's tally to 13 points, three more than their closest challengers Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, who were held to a 1-1 result by Iraq's Al Mina'a on the same night in Kuwait City.
Jestrovic headed home the first of his two goals off a curling cross from Saleh Obaid in the 35th minute after Kholmurodov had silenced the partisan crowd with a similar header from a Aziz Ibragimov cross in the 23rd minute.
It was the only opportunity the Uzbek club hadto catch the Al Ain defence on the wrong foot for the entire game dominated by home side.
Mash'al made a late charge at the Al Ain goal with Kholmurodov in the thick of the action, but his efforts were in vain. His close range strike ricocheted off Waleed Salem's legs and a header in the next minute sailed over the crossbar.
Jestrovic, having cancelled the Mash'al lead, added a second to his name by tapping in a rebound after the ball had come off the near post from Faisal Ali's effort on the stroke of half time.
Gharib Hareb moving up from the defence sent a through pass to Faisal Ali, who dragged goalkeeper Pavel Butenko out of position, but his shot crashed against the near post for Jestrovic to tap in gleefully on his follow through. The two goals took Jestrovic's tally to five in the competition.
He was unlucky not to add more to that tally when a well executed lob from the Serbia striker ricocheted off the crossbar in the 73rd minute and a free kick crashed against the woodwork three minutes later.
Pakhtakor - Al Qadisiya 2:2. Renat Bayramov 12, Anvarjon Soliev 90 - Hussain Ali 7, Khalaf Salama 58.
A late equaliser from substitute Anvarjon Soliev was not enough to keep Pakhtakor's AFC Champions League campaign alive as their 2-2 draw with Al Qadisiya sent the Kuwaitis through to the quarter-finals.
Al Qadisiya twice went ahead - through Hussain Ali in the seventh minute and Khalaf Salama 13 minutes after the restart - and although Pakhtakor twice pegged them back, a solitary point was not enough for the six-time Uzbek champions to progress.
The surprise as the teams took to the field was that Pakhtakor coach Valeri Nepomniatchi left Soliev - the top scorer in the Uzbek league in 2005 - on the bench while Temur Juraev was favoured in goal ahead of Eldor Tadjibaev, who played in the previous two domestic league matches, as the Uzbeks sought to find a replacement for injured goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov.
Juraev only managed to keep the Kuwaitis out for seven minutes when Nawaf Al Mutairi sent in a free kick from the left flank and Ali headed home.
Pakhtakor only needed five minutes to restore parity as the Uzbeks capitalized on Jamal Abdul Rahman's miss-kick, allowing Renat Bayramov to send the ball past goalkeeper Nawaf Al Khaledi.
The home side pushed forward looking to take the lead and created a hatful of chances, only to see a combination of Al Khaledi's goalkeeping and their own profligacy cost them dear.
Striker Uche Iheruome was introduced at half time by Nepomniatchi, but by the 58th minute the crowd of 18,000 had their hopes of seeing Pakhtakor going through fatally wounded when Salama's shot from the edge of the penalty area nestled in the back of the net after clipping the crossbar.
Al Qadisiya's second goal finally brought the introduction of Soliev and, with two fresh strikers on the field, the pressure increased on the visitors' defence.
But when the goal came it proved to be too little too late for Pakhtakor. Iheruome's pass found Soliev in the penalty area before the Uzbek international scored his second goal of this year's AFC Champions League.
Al Qadisiya held on to pick up the point they needed to earn qualification for the knockout phase, a feat which looked unlikely following their opening day 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Foolad.
Coach Mohammed Ibrahim, however, instigated a turnaround that saw his team go undefeated throughout the rest of the group phase and qualify despite possessing a negative goal-difference.