The substitutes made the difference.. Sharjah beats Kalba 3-1

Sharjah increased its chances of remaining in the ADNOC Professional League, after it defeated its guest, Kalba, 3-1, today, Sunday, in the 13th round of the tournament.

Sharjah started the match with an early advantage, when Luan Pereira opened the scoring, taking advantage of a shot that the Kalba goalkeeper did not handle well, giving the hosts an early lead in the 9th minute.

However, Kalba quickly regained its balance and imposed its offensive presence, threatening Sharjah’s goal on more than one occasion, most notably Regan Alivoda’s shot, which was blocked by Shaheen Abdul Rahman before it crossed the goal line, in addition to Shahryar Moganlou’s header, which hit the post and went out of the field.

The visitors were able to translate their advantage by equalizing through Rene Rivas, who followed a corner ball executed by Ahmed Nour Allah, taking advantage of the absence of defensive control, to put the ball into the net in the 39th minute.

In the second half, Sharjah faced clear difficulty in regaining the lead, in light of the good defensive organization of the Kalba team, despite various attempts, the most prominent of which was Luan Pereira’s header in the “60th” minute, which goalkeeper Sultan Al-Mundhiri brilliantly saved and turned into a corner kick.

The decision came thanks to the substitute players, as Hareb Abdullah scored the lead goal just two minutes after he came on as a substitute for Igor Kornado, after an interval of good dribbles by the Kalba defense in the 79th minute.

Three minutes later, the other substitute, Firas Balarabi, increased his team’s lead, taking advantage of a perfect pass from Luan Pereira, to confirm the victory of “The King” and give him three valuable points, raising his score to 14 points, advancing to ninth place, while Kalba’s score froze at 16 points in seventh place without change.