Al Ain’s speed and vitality were not enough to confront Zakho’s maturity in the Gulf Champions League

The young Al Ain team suffered its first defeat in the Gulf Football Champions League, in the first real test against an experienced team, after Al-Zaeem lost with two clean goals to Iraqi Zakho in the confrontation that brought together the two sides this evening at Zakho International Stadium, causing the team to fall to second place in the group with 6 points, while Zakho took the lead with 7 points.

Al Ain had continued its approach in the tournament by relying on the reserve squad led by Italian Matteo Lombardo, at a time when coach Vladimir Ivic was focusing on local goals with the first team.

Although speed and vitality gave Al Ain two opening victories against Bahrain’s Sitra and Kuwait’s Al Qadisiyah, the experience of the Zakho players was the difference in today’s confrontation.

The Iraqi team played the match with realism and tactical discipline, benefiting from the cohesion of its lines and its ability to read the match, while the Al Ain players faced difficulty in translating their physical momentum into offensive effectiveness, and some defensive gaps appeared that the hosts cleverly exploited.

Amjad Atoun scored the first goal from a penalty kick in the 16th minute, before Aliou Adam added the second goal in the 33rd minute, in the presence of a full crowd of about 25,000 spectators.

In the second match in the group, Bahrain’s Sitra tied with Kuwait’s Al-Qadisiyah, raising Sitra’s score to two points in third place, while Al-Qadisiyah earned its first point in fourth place, and the first and second-place finishers qualified for the semi-finals.