Cristiano strike hands Adelaide 5th place
An under-strength Adelaide United has finished the FIFA Club World Cup on a high, after Cristiano secured a 1-0 win over African Champions Al Ahly at the Yokohama International Stadium in Japan.
The Brazilian striker converted a 7th minute chance, with a superb shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner. The win secured The Reds 5th place in the prestigious tournament and they have been rewarded with a significant financial windfall.
In what was largely a scrappy game, which for large parts was dominated by the Egyptian team, Adelaide started strongly and could have been two or three goals up in the opening 20 minutes.
It-s the second time Al Ahly have been beaten by a Hyundai A-League team at the FIFA Club World Cup with Sydney FC doing likewise at the 2005 tournament.
The achievement was even more remarkably, given that Adelaide were forced to start the game without three starting midfielders from the narrow loss to Gamba Osaka on Sunday, including that of Captain Travis Dodd, who was ruled out earlier in the day. Cassio and Fabian Barbiero also had to sit on the sidelines, with Kristian Sarkies, Alameo and Robert Younis coming into the starting side.
Despite the absence of the star trio, it was The Reds who started the more brightly of the two teams, with Alameo having the first shot at goal after three minutes of play. His shot however was comfortably saved by Al Ahly keeper Amir Abdelhamid.
But it didn-t take long for Cristiano to show his value with a wonderful goal from 20 metres out and what proved a worthy winner.
After good possession by Adelaide on the left, Cristiano picked up the ball cut inside and unleashed a swerving strike at goal that crashed into the top right hand corner of the net.
Three minutes later it was almost 2-0, when Sasa Ognenovski powered a header goalward, only for Amir to dive full stretch and palm the ball away.
Adelaide continued with the momentum and Cristiano should have perhaps had a second goal in the 14th minute, when he was faced with Amir one-on-one. However this time the Brazilian fired wide.
In a further blow to Adelaide-s playing stocks, the influential Diego was forced off the field after 25 minutes with a knee injury, with Jonas Salley entering the fray.
With Al Ahly starting to gain the upper hand in terms of possession, it was inevitable that they would eventually get a shot at goal, but it didn-t come until the 35th minute and it was well wide of the target.
This proved to be the story of the night for the 33-times Egyptian Champions, who had numerous shots at goal, but on only two occasions did they test Reds keeper Eugene Galekovic.
The first of these shots on target did not arrive till the 79th minute, Galekovic safely saving a header, but four minutes later he came to his side rescue.
Mohamed Barakat burst through the Adelaide defence with Galekovic producing a terrific reflex save to keep his side in front, which they duly hung onto to record a great win for not the club, but Australian football in general.