Mehdi Taremi stars as troubled Al Wasl break Asian Champions League duck

Mehdi Taremi said he was just doing his job after helping Al Wasl register the first win of their disrupted AFC Champions League Elite campaign.

The Iranian striker scored the opening goal and was named player of the match as they beat Al Quwa Al Jawiya 4-3 at Zabeel Stadium.

The win lifted the Dubai side off the foot of the 16-team table, as they look to contend for a place in the knockout stages.

Although Wasl are just a point off top spot in the UAE Pro League, they have struggled in Asia’s top competition while other sides from the Emirates have thrived.

Al Ain, for example, extended their extraordinary start to the campaign with an incredible 4-1 win against Saudi Pro League giants Al Ittihad in Jeddah on Monday night.

Similarly, Wasl’s Dubai rivals, Shabab Al Ahli, have a 100 per cent record ahead of their fixture against Al Hilal in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Alongside a faltering start on the field, Wasl have faced logistical challenges off it, too.

Their previous fixture, against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, was postponed because of travel issues related to flying to Riyadh.

It meant Wasl had not played a competitive fixture in 11 days before lining up against the side that represents the Iraqi air force on Monday evening.

That might have explained the erratic display. Wasl could have had double the number of goals they ended up with, but were also lucky not to have drawn the game 4-4; such was their porous defending.

Given all the challenges they have faced, it was perhaps predictable that Taremi stood out. After all, last summer he had faced far greater issues than those currently troubling Asian football.

He was part of the Iran side that faced unprecedented upheaval when playing at the World Cup in the United States.

“During the World Cup, we answered a lot of these questions; that's my job, I'm a football player,” Taremi said of coping with the challenges.

“If we go [for a fixture], I'm going to play. If not, I stay here and train for the next game. The situation is not under my control.”

After Taremi scored the opener, two goals from Nicolas Gimenez, the UAE national team playmaker, and one from Pedro Malheiro took the home side’s tally to four.

They were leaky at the back, though, and were fortunate not to concede a leveller late on.

“It was a tough game, as we expected,” said Taremi, the former Inter Milan and Porto striker.

“From the organisation of the defence, we had some problems. For the offensive, I think we did a great job.

“We could have scored more goals. We are happy about the three points, but we have to solve some problems.”

We gave them the opportunity to believe they could get a better result. We never killed the game, and we opened the doors for the opponent to be more confident

Ruit Vitoria

,
Al Wasl manager

Rui Vitoria, the Wasl manager, said the uncertainty over fixtures might have played a part in the disjointed display by his side.

“We never know when we have these situations, if it is good or not so good,” Vitoria said.

“If we have some rhythm and a sequence of games, we don't know exactly what will happen in the next game.

“It was a long time without competition. But we prepared our model of the game; we tried to improve the faults that we need to improve, and we went for the match.

“We saw on the pitch that we could be much better than our opponent, but we gave them oxygen.

“We gave them the opportunity to believe they could get a better result. We never killed the game, and we opened the doors for the opponent to be more confident.

“We cannot see only the negative. We are scoring, playing attacking football, and creating opportunities.

“But as a coach, in my career, my team normally doesn’t receive so many goals, and we have to resolve that problem.”