Al Bahri staged a spirited rally from three goals down to split points with Inthar and book their place in the quarterfinals of the NAS Futsal Championship.
Beneficiary of a late own-goal in their opening 2-1 win over defending champion Al Taher, Al Bahri looked down for the count at 1-4 in the 24th minute, but Helal Al Jaberi reduced the deficit in the 28th minute and then Frenchman Mohammed Abdessamad gave a further boost to Al Bahri’s hopes with their third goal in the 31st minute. Four minutes later, Egyptian Essam Shamkh completed their fight back with a stunning volley to level the scores and confirm his team’s place in the last eight from Group C.
Dubai Police and The Storm are also through to the knockout stages, but the Policemen will go through as Group A toppers after defeating The Storm 4-2 in the battle for top place. Everton Cardoso struck a brace for Dubai Police on the night, while their captain Ahmad Hussain Ali and Jhonatan Luis scored one apiece. Mohammed Obaid and Leonardo Mendonca scored for The Storm.
In Group D, Sport 4 All kept their quarterfinal hopes alive by fighting back, like Al Bahri, from 1-4 down to beat Leader Sport 6-5. Portuguese Paulo Nuno Costa was the chief protagonist of the fightback, scoring three goals in the space of two minutes to level the scores at 4-4 in the 26th minute.
Three minutes later, Sport 4 All, who were drubbed 8-1 by Fuhood Zaabeel in their opening match, were leading 6-4 with goals from Ahmed Jasim and Douglas Dos Santos, before Andre Da Silva reduced the margin with his third of the match for Leader Sport.
“We deserved these three points after fighting back from 1-4 at half-time,” said Ahmed Al Hammadi, the Sport 4 All captain. “At the break, I told the players that if we want to keep our qualifying hopes alive, we will have to show a lot more focus and resolve, and raise the level of our game.
“The players responded to the call and inside the first nine minutes of the second half, we managed to turn the game around with six goals. Now, hopefully the result of the final group match between Fuhood and Leader Sport will be in our favour.
“Our target in this tournament was to do well and try to go as deep into the tournament as we can. The big loss in the opening match was a setback, but it did not crush our resolve. We have done our job in this match, and now we wait with our fingers crossed.”
Organised by Dubai Sports Council (DSC) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the 2018 Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament will see more than 5,000 athletes compete for a total prize-purse of Dh6 million in Dubai, across 11 competitions.
The tournament has also gone international this year with a five-a-side futsal competition taking place in the Egyptian capital Cairo and an eight-team volleyball tournament being held in Amman, Jordan.
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