DOHA: Aspire Academy yesterday crushed Shanghai Greenland 6-1 on day two of the Al Kass International Cup yesterday.
Also yesterday, Real Madrid beat PSG 4-0 to score a convincing win against the French side.
Earlier on Friday. Iter Milan hammered Shanghai Greenland 7-0 while Aspire Football Dreams held Benfica to a 2-2 draw. In the third match on the opening night, FC Redbull Salzburg beat Celtic Glasgow 3-1.
Aspire Academy yesterday showed genuine promise in coasting to victory over Shanghai Greenland in the second game of Day 2’s Al Kass International Cup 2016.
The Chinese youngsters had been given just over 24 hours to recover from their morale-sapping seven-goal humiliation at the hands of Inter Milan the previous day.
And, within two minutes of the kick-off, Shanghai were behind again. Andri Syahputra waltzed through a lethargic defence before smashing a fine effort into the roof of the net from the edge of the area to put Aspire one up.
Two minutes later the Academy should have had a penalty after Shanghai captain Lian Ming Lin hauled back Abdulla Almurisi inside the area, but referee Mohammed Shabir was unsighted and play was allowed to continue. Almost immediately, the home side had the ball in the net once again, only for Abdulrasheed Ibrahim’s header to be correctly ruled offside.
Shanghai had been unable to manage a single shot on target against Inter, and in the early stages they were similarly unconvincing, with Aspire completely dominant. They should have scored a second after 17 minutes, but Ibrahim had once again strayed narrowly offside before tapping into an open goal.
It was clear that the Chinese defence was struggling to contain the Aspire number seven, and Ibrahim fired the Academy further ahead on 24 minutes, latching on to a through ball from captain Nasser Alarhak before producing a composed finish that gave keeper Kai Yuan Lin no chance.
Two minutes later a fine run down the right from Khaled Mansour found Ibrahim free six yards out, but the busy forward miskicked over the bar when he would have expected to score. The chance was just one of several that Aspire created in the opening stages as the limited Chinese side showed little defensive resolve and limited attacking prowess. Indeed, with sharper finishing the Academy boys could have been at least five goals ahead within the opening half hour.
With 35 minutes on the clock –125 minutes into their Al Kass playing experience - Shanghai Greenland finally managed their first shot on target, but it was smartly saved by the otherwise unoccupied keeper Marwan El Din.
Aspire immediately counter-attacked, and the effervescent Ibrahim ran clear on goal before rounding the keeper and finishing from a tight angle to make the score 3-0.
The Aspire youngsters had established a commanding lead, but fleetingly let their discipline slip moments later, and paid the price. Centre back Abdul Nizha was robbed just outside his own area by the industrious Luo Fan Liu, and the tall midfielder kept his composure to shoot low past keeper El Din. Liu had been Shanghai’s best player throughout the tournament thus far, and the goal was a deserved reward for his perseverance.
In today’s games, Celtic Glasgow play Estudiantes De La Plata on pitch 5 at 3:35pm while PSG take on Al Ahli on the same pitch at 5:45pm. In the last game of the day, Aspire Football Dreams play Kashiwa Reysol at 7:55pm.
The Peninsula
