Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira’s on-loan striker Kenwyne Jones described the Pride of Abu Dhabi’s epic Asian Champions League play-off victory over Al Sadd on Tuesday as being comparable to his 2006 World Cup appearance for Trinidad and Tobago.
The 31-year-old also looked forward to “a fantastic journey” in Group C of the continental competition alongside Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan, Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Tractor Sazi Tabriz after Al Jazira won 5-4 on penalties after extra time.
“This game was right up there [with the World Cup] as it got us into the AFC Champions League,” Jones, who joined Al Jazira from Cardiff City in January until the end of the season and who has played in the English Premier League for the Welsh side, Sunderland, Stoke City and Southampton, said. “It is just as important,” he added.
Jones levelled Hamza Senhadji’s 23rd-minute opener for the Qatar Stars League side with a glancing header a minute before the break at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium, before Ali Mabkhout put the home side ahead on the 65th minute with a delightful, curling free-kick from the edge of the box.
In a dramatic denouement, however, the visitors equalised with only two minutes remaining through Senhadji’s second of the game, a thunderous finish high into the net.
Then, on the stroke of full time, Al Jazira goalkeeper Ali Khaseif produced a fine, one-handed save to deny Khalfan Ebrahim from the penalty spot and then saved another spot-kick in the resultant shootout.
Among those missing spot-kicks for Al Sadd, the two-time ACL winners, was the legendary former Spain and Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez, who ballooned his effort over the bar.
Al Jazira begin their Group C campaign away to Tractor Sazi on Wednesday, February 24 and Jones cannot wait.
“Listen, it is an exciting time,” he added, when asked of his aspirations in the competition. “The AFC Champions League is another competition, maybe it might be a bit more strategic.
“It is home and away, you play for points and at home you try to win your games. It is going to be a fantastic journey, you know.”
“I’ve not thought about this yet, it’s just 15 minutes after the game,” added Henk ten Cate, the Al Jazira coach, when asked the same question. “The players are very happy in the dressing room; they put lemonade and water on my head.”
Of the penalty shoot-out, the Dutchman, who replaced the sacked Abel Braga at the end of December, said: “The whole week I’ve been working with the players and I have a lot of confidence in them. Unfortunately, Thiago [Neves] hit the crossbar. This is bad luck, but we resolved it with a fantastic save from Ali [Khaseif]. He deserves it. He was a long time out.”
Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Al Jazira’s Arabian Gulf League rivals Al Shabab exited the competition at the play-off stage after losing 2-0 away to Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor.
This leaves Al Jazira, Al Ain and Al Nasr, the latter two of which qualified automatically after winning the 2015 AGL and President’s Cup respectively, as the UAE’s representatives in the tournament.
“I think it’s an advertisement for football in the UAE, this game,” Ten Cate continued. “The result is good, it’s fantastic, but also for UAE football.
“One extra participant in the Champions League is good. We will see what this will bring.”
