Riffa suffer tight defeat

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Riffa Club wrapped up their preliminary round campaign in the 2023/2024 AFC Cup with a tough 1-2 loss last night against Al Zawra’a of Iraq.

The match was played at Basra Sport City Stadium in Basra, and it was the concluding fixture for both sides in Group C. Riffa headed into the contest having already secured their place in the knockout stage, where they will play in the West Zonal semi-finals.

Zawra’a were hoping to also make it through as the best runner-up from the three pools in the preliminaries. Joel Vinicius and Hasan Abdulkareem were on target for their respective sides in the first-half yesterday, and then Collins Opare supplied the winner for the Iraqis seven minutes from full time.

With the result, Riffa suffered their first loss after six matches in this year’s AFC Cup and stayed on 13 points atop the Group C standings. Zawra’a scored their third win and improved to 11 points, increasing their chances of a West Zonal semis berth.

In last night’s other Group C match, Al Arabi of Kuwait defeated Nejmeh SC of Lebanon 2-1 in a non-bearing encounter. Arabi and Nejmeh finished as the bottom two teams from their pool and were eliminated from further title contention.

Riffa opened the scoring last night in the ninth minute. Vinicius found the net with a left-footed effort from the centre of the box which he sent to the bottom-left corner of goal. He received an assist from teammate Abdulaziz Khalid.

Zawra’a were able to level the scores just four minutes before the break through Abdulkareem. He fired in with a left-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom-right corner of goal, with Opare supplying an assist.

It was then Opare’s turn to get onto the scoresheet. He put Zawra’a in front with a header from close range off a cross from the right wing following a corner. That was enough to separate the two sides in the game.

The Zonal semi-finals are scheduled to take place in February of next year, to be followed by the Zonal finals in April. There will also be Inter-zone play-off semi-finals in March and Inter-zone play-off finals in April for teams outside the West zone. This season’s AFC Cup final is then scheduled for May of next year.

The AFC Cup is the annual continental club competition of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the continent’s top teams not competing in the AFC Champions League. Riffa are the lone Bahraini outfit in this year’s tournament.