Dubai: Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre denied his side’s 3-0 Arabian Gulf League defeat away to Al Nasr on Saturday had anything to with fatigue following their midweek Asian Champions League play-off exploits.
The Clarets beat Jordan’s Al Wehdat 3-0 at home to progress to the group stages of the Asian Champions League for the first time in six years on Tuesday.
However, Aguirre’s men duly followed it up with a 3-0 reverse away to Al Nasr four days later to dent their chances of a second consecutive league top three finish.
Al Nasr substitute Jasem Yaqoub came off the bench after the hour to net twice inside the last 15 minutes before Amer Mubarak added a late third.
“There was a balance between the two teams until Al Nasr scored the first goal,” said Aguirre. “Then we weren’t able to comeback. This was not about the Asian Champions League, it was about the mistakes we made.
“These gave Al Nasr the chances to score, especially the first goal. We missed players in defence and we pushed the younger players, without experience.”
Sixth-placed Al Wahda are now 13 points off third with eight games remaining, and have now gone four games without a win in the Arabian Gulf League.
Their only hope of qualifying to next year’s Asian Champions League now rests with the President’s Cup, where they face Sharjah in the semi-final on April 19. If they win that they will most probably play Al Nasr, who face Hatta in the other semi-final on April 20, in the final.
Whoever wins, automatically qualifies to the Asian Champions League with the clubs that finish first and second in the Arabian Gulf League, leaving the third-place league finisher to face a play-off to make the group stages.
Seventh-placed Al Nasr are level with Al Wahda on 25 points and share the same target to reach Asia, but assistant coach Ali Murad, said his side hadn’t given up hope of finishing top three, after this victory ended a run of four games without a win.
“This win means a lot,” said Murad. “We will use this to motivate our players to come back in the league.”
League leaders Al Jazira went eight points clear with their 3-1 win away to bottom-of-the-league Bani Yas on Friday, after Al Ain lost 2-1 away to third-from-bottom Dibba on Thursday.
With that loss Al Ain dropped from second to fourth after Al Wasl beat Sharjah 2-1 away on Thursday and Al Ahli beat Al Shabab 4-1 at home on Friday.
In the weekend’s other games second-from-bottom Emirates lost 2-0 away to Hatta on Friday and Al Dhafra jumped to fifth with a 2-1 win away to Kalba.
