Wortmann rues poor opening half

AFCCL - Al Wahda coach Ivo Wortmann believes that his side's poor first-half performance was the main cause of their 3-1 defeat to Iranian side Sepahan in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday.

The three-time United Arab Emirates league champions faced an uphill task in the second half, trailing 1-0 to the home side and playing with only 10 men after defender Yaser Abdulla received a second yellow card for a foul on striker Mahmoud Karimi in the 33rd minute.

"We didn't play well in the first half, which is why we conceded a goal and perhaps why we had a player sent off," said the Brazilian.

"But in the second half we played much better and scored the equaliser, but we couldn't take our chances."

Al Wahda started the second period well and drew level after just three minutes when Mohamed Al Shehhi found himself space on the edge of the box and slid the ball past goalkeeper Abbas Mohammadi for the equaliser.

But the 10 men of Al Wahda couldn't hold out and Sepahan wrapped up the victory through Karimi’s second of the night close to the hour and Navidkia’s penalty late on.

Wortmann was unhappy with the officiating of Singapore referee Abdul Malik Abdul Bashir as well as the behaviour of some Sepahan fans, who held up the match for four minutes by raining objects on to the pitch.

He also felt that Sepahan coach Luka Bonacic had disrespected his team by juggling the ball on the touchline before returning it back to to them, whith the game still in progress..

"In international football, everyone respects each other but when we were two goals behind, he (Bonacic) disrespected us.

"But we are a professional team and I don't want to use these as excuses for losing. In the first half, we didn't play well enough."

Despite his disappointment, the Brazilian remains confident of Al-Wahda's chances of making it to the final.

"Even though we had 10 men, we still created good chances,” he said. “I'm hopeful for the second leg because we are hosts and we can turn it around."