AFC Champions League 2022: Nasaf advance to Round of 16 for first time in their history

Al Wehdat came into their last game of the campaign with slender hopes; only a big win to reverse the 2-0 defeat against Nasaf would take them through to the Round of 16, while anything less would mean a historic first qualification for the Uzbek side.

Nasaf made their opponents’ task even more complicated from the start as Oybek Bozorov set-up Marko Stanojevic who rifled home from 25 yards out inside three minutes for his third goal of the campaign, having netted a brace against Al Wehdat in the reverse fixture.

Aware of the size of the challenge ahead, Al Wehdat regrouped and dominated the remainder of the half, their first response was a quick attack that saw Monther Abu Amara feed Khaled Assam and the latter opted to go for goal instead of passing to Mohammed Anas in space, but saw his shot miss the target in the fifth minute.

Nasaf nearly doubled their lead in a fiery start to the game as Sharof Mukhitdinov curled an angled free-kick towards the top corner but was denied by a flying Ahmed Abdelsattar save after seven minutes.

It was Al Wehdat who got the next goal, drawing level in the 34th minute after Assam controlled the ball down the left and curled an in-swinging cross with his right for Anas who rose unmarked to guide home a header for his first AFC Champions League goal.

The Jordanians’ slim hopes suffered a big blow a minute before the hour mark as they failed to deal with a Nasaf corner, allowing the ball to drop to Husain Norchaev on the edge of the six-yard box and the youngster swept home his second goal of the campaign and his side’s second of the night.

Al Wehdat took the game to their opponents in pursuit of goals, while Nasaf’s low block and high work rate kept Raed Assaf’s men limited to threatening from a distance as substitute Anas Al Awadat did 15 minutes from time, driving forward and firing towards goal from outside the box, but goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov punched it away to deny him.

Al Wehdat got their equalizer eight minutes from time after Al Awadat floated a cross into the box that Anas’ cushioned header set-up for Mohannad Abu Taha to sweep home from close range seven minutes after coming off the bench, to make it 2-2.

The result meant Nasaf finished second in the group with nine points to advance to the next stage as one of the three best runners-up alongside Al Rayyan from Group A and Shabab Al Ahli from Group C, while Al Wehdat bowed out with six points to their name.