QATAR’S AL-SADD DEFEATED Hienghene Sport 3-1 after extra-time on Wednesday, shattering the New Caledonian part-timers’ dreams of facing Liverpool in the Club World Cup.
Al-Sadd, coached by Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez, will now face Mexico’s Monterrey, the Concacaf Champions League winners, on Saturday.
Whoever emerges from that match will then be able to look forward to a plum semi-final against European champions Liverpool on 18 December.
“We had many chances to score. They didn’t look like scoring in the second half apart from early on,” Xavi told the BBC. “We suffered too much, we did more than them but we missed too many chances.”
Algerian star Baghdad Bounedjah gave the Qataris the lead after 26 minutes, before Asian Player of the Year Akram Afif had a goal ruled out for offside.
Amy Roine levelled for the Pacific Islanders in the first minute of the second half after a VAR review.
The game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, before the greater fitness of the home side came to the fore with a Abdelkarim Hassan free-kick and Pedro Miguel Correia sealing the win.
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