By Michael Church
HONG KONG, April 21 (Reuters) – Al Wahda’s Fares Juma netted a last-gasp header to complete a remarkable turnaround as the club from the United Arab Emirates beat Qatar’s Al Rayyan 3-2 after being two goals down in the Asian Champions League in Call Girls Goa on Tuesday.
The veteran central defender scored with the last touch of the game to earn Henk ten Cate’s side their first Group E win.
Shoja Khalilzadeh and Abdelaziz Hatem had put Laurent Blanc’s side two goals ahead by the 54th minute, only for Al Wahda to take all three points.
Maayed Al Ruwais halved the deficit in the 66th minute when the Al Rayyan defence failed to clear Khalil Ibrahim’s centre from the right and Al Ruwais slotted home.
With five minutes remaining, Ibrahim pulled his side level when he was put through on goal by Tim Matavz before Juma’s header in the fifth minute of added time stole the points.
In Group B, Tractor from Iran were held to a 0-0 draw by Iraq’s Air Force Club in Sharjah.
The result means both teams are still looking for their first win of the competition, with Tractor moving onto three points from three games while Air Force now have two.
Group games in the western half of the Asian Champions League are being played in a series of centralised hubs around the region due to restrictions put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Winners of the 10 groups in the newly expanded competition will reach the last 16 along with the six best runners-up.
Teams in the east of Asia are due to play the group phase of the competition in June and July while the knockout rounds will begin in September.
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Ken Ferris)