"Al-Hussein" boosts its continental chances with a hat-trick headlined by Al-Haj

Aref Al-Haj established himself as the star of the match after leaving his mark on the proceedings and managing to score a "hat-trick," which gave his team three points at a critical time.

With this, Al-Hussein succeeded in raising its tally to 4 points, placing it in second place behind the group leader, Iraq's Al-Shorta, which in turn defeated India's East Bengal 3-2 to raise its tally to 6 points, while the Indian team's tally remained at one point in third place, and the Omani team settled in last place with zero points.

Al-Hussein lineup: Yazid Abu Laila, Abdullah Nasib, Pedro Henrique, Ali Al-Hajbi, Ahmed Assaf (Adham Al-Quraishi), Yousef Abu Al-Jazar (Salah Farash), Mahmoud Shawkat, Yousef Qashi (Ahmed Al-Salman), Mohammad Al-Rayhi, Aref Al-Haj, Masoud Juma (Brian Riascos).

Al-Seeb lineup: Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini, Mohammed Al-Musalami, Musab Al-Shaqsi, Jawad Al-Azzi, Hassan Al-Ajmi, Augustine Tondo, Ali Al-Busaidi, Omar Al-Maliki, Zahir Al-Aghbari, Axel Meye, Abdul Aziz Al-Muqbali.

Turning the tables

Al-Hussein, which played with a style dominated by caution and defensive closure during the first half of the opening period, found it extremely difficult to deal with the attacking data imposed on it by Al-Seeb, which held the field advantage.

Al-Seeb appeared more capable of dealing with the proceedings through active movements across all axes, in addition to pressing the ball carrier and trying to exploit the lack of cohesion that marred the performance of Al-Hussein's defenses.

Accordingly, the greatest burden fell on the back line of the Al-Hussein team, and its goal was subjected to many direct balls that almost shook the net, were it not for the brilliance of Abu Laila in defending his goal.

As time passed, Al-Hussein succeeded in turning the tables after rearranging its papers and managed to neutralize its opponent before launching attacking initiatives that contributed significantly to forcing Al-Seeb to retreat to its back areas to monitor the movements of Al-Rayhi, Al-Haj, and Juma.

All of this gave Al-Hussein the confidence and ability to shift the course of play from its areas to its opponent's stadium, and Al-Rayhi almost translated this advantage, but his shot went slightly over the crossbar, before Al-Haj was able to put his team in the lead when he brilliantly shot a free kick that settled to the right of the goalkeeper (42nd minute).

An artist's touch

The state of confidence that Al-Hussein derived from its lead in the first half was reflected in the team's performance in the second half, unlike its opponent, which lacked the accuracy and speed necessary to gain the field advantage that the northern team held.

This reality gave the players of Spanish coach Xavi Moro Torres greater confidence to advance to the forward positions and get closer to their opponent's goal, so that the first organized attacking work resulted in scoring the insurance goal, which bore the signature of Al-Haj, who shot intelligently the moment the goalkeeper came out, for his ball to settle in the net (55th minute).

After a period of relative calm during which Al-Seeb tried to return to the match, the two sides exchanged attacks, but Al-Hussein's danger was more evident, and the most prominent star, Al-Haj, was able to add his third personal goal and the third for his team when he toyed with the Omani defense in a distinctive way and shot a powerful and intelligent ball into the net (82nd minute).