Jayapura : Persipura Jayapura ended Kuwait Sports Club's defence of
their AFC Cup title in emphatic fashion on Tuesday as Robertino
Pugliara's hat-trick helped the Indonesia champions to a sensational 6-1
victory at Mandala Stadium in the second leg of their quarter-final
tie.
Trailing 3-2 from the first leg, the home side made an excellent
start as Pugliara fired them ahead with a spectacular scissor kick after
just 80 seconds and the Argentinian added his second in first-half
stoppage-time to make it 3-0, shortly after captain Boaz Solossa had
scored from long range.
Titus Bonai extended the home side's lead seven minutes into the
second half and although Reza Ghoochannejhad pulled a goal back for the
visitors in the 65th minute, Pugliara completed his hat-trick a minute
later before substitute Ferinando Pahabol found the net in stoppage time
to complete a stunning 8-4 aggregate victory for Persipura, who became
the first Indonesian side to reach the AFC Cup semi-finals.
Having ended Kuwait SC's hopes of winning a third consecutive AFC Cup
title and a fourth overall, they will now meet either Bahrain's Al Hidd
or 2013 runners-up Qadsia SC of Kuwait in the last four.
Persipura had conceded two late goals to lose 3-2 in the first leg
but the Indonesian side made the best start possible on a hot afternoon
at the Mandala Stadium as Pugliara netted his first AFC Cup in
spectacular fashion in just the second minute. A deep corner from the
right was not properly dealt with by the Kuwait SC defence and Bio
Paulin knocked the ball down for the Argentinian, who hooked it into the
net with a well-executed scissor kick.
The visitors may have been feeling the effects of their long journey
from the Middle East to Papua but they went close to an equaliser as
goalkeeper Yoo Jae-hoon made a pair of fine saves to keep out Al Enezi's
shot from a narrow angle and Waleed Ali's long-range shot in the
opening 10 minutes.
However, Persipura's defence held firm against the Kuwait SC pressure
and they posed a constant threat on the counter-attack. They could have
extended their advantage as an unmarked Gerald Pangkali shot wastefully
wide in the 25th minute and Bonai then had the ball nicked off him by
Sami Al Sanea as he was about to fire home from point-blank range in the
39th minute.
However, the second goal did finally arrive in the 43rd minute when a
hopeful long ball by Ruben Sanadi found Solossa near the halfway line.
He burst between two defenders and spotting goalkeeper Musab Al Kandari
well off his line, launched a shot from 40 metres that flew past the
helpless custodian as he scrambled back towards his goal.
Worse was to follow for the visitors in stoppage time as Bonai
slipped the ball through for an unattended Pugliara to tuck home his
second goal of the game.
Al Kandari made a good save to deny Solossa two minutes into the
second half but he had to pick the ball out of his net for a fourth time
in the 52nd minute when he could only parry another shot by Solossa
across his goalmouth for Bonai to finish emphatically at the far post.
Ghoochannejhad had an effort ruled out for offside in the 57th minute
but the Iranian would give his side a glimmer of hope when he headed in
a cross by Al Enezi eight minutes later.
But those hopes was quickly dashed as Pugliara completed his
hat-trick a minute later, gathering the ball in just outside the box and
curling the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Kuwait SC's woes were compounded when Fahad Hamoud was sent off in
the 68th minute after he received his second yellow card for
inadvertently kicking Yoo in the stomach as he attempted to challenge
for a loose ball in the Persipura box.
And there was still time for another Persipura goal in stoppage time
as substitute Pahabol was sent clear down the right and kept his
composure to slip the ball past Al Kandari to complete the 6-1 rout.
Sourch the-afc.com
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