(MENAFN- The Peninsula) El Jaish overcame a fighting Lekhwiya 33-30 in the all-Qatari clash to retain the 17th Asian Clubs' League Championship title here yesterday.
At the Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Sports Hall in Al Sadd, watched by a capacity crowd, the defending champions were kept on their toes in the initial stages of the match with their local arch-rivals fighting every inch in the title clash to tie the scores at 7-all.
From there on El Jaish broke free and took control of the game, creating a series of moves which unsettled the rival defence and slowly put them in the lead.
El Jaish set a hot pace and with their well-rehearsed defence and great individual performances dictated terms to go into the first-half with a three goal lead at 14-11.
On the other hand, Lekhwiya felt the absence of Mario Tomic, who was suspended following a red card in the last minute of the semi-final against Al Kuwait Cub on Saturday.
The line player is not only a strong post in their defence but a crucial part of Lekhwiya's attack, working hard to create space for his back-court players, especially fellow Croatian shooter Bagaric Marko
In the middle of the second-half, Lekhwiya inched back into the game, with only a goal behind.
But El Jaish stayed cool and with the help of some very important goals of line player Shebib Mohamed, retained the lead and, thereafter, increased it.
In the last 10 minutes of the game, El Jaish took a comfortable lead and there was no stopping them.
With a cushion of a comfortable lead, El Jaish were confident in every single pass, throw and move from there on.
In the end, El Jaish were deserving winners having not lost a single match throughout the tournament. They justified the gold medals around their necks.
Shebib top-scored with 11 goals for the winners and was happy with his dominating performance in the final.
"We came here to defend the title and this is what we did. We could show that we were the stronger team, we showed the champions face. I want to thank everyone in my wonderful team for his contribution. Like all other players I have pain everywhere and am very tired. But we have an extraordinary fighting spirit in our team - and that gave me the extra power to run so many fast breaks," he added.
Shebib said Tomic's absence in the final was to El Jaish's advantage.
"When we learned that he was suspended and would not play, we knew that is was going to be much easier. So, we focussed on closing the three back court players in defence, which worked out fine. It was a clever and successful tactic."
For Lekhwiya, Marko netted six, while Madadi Ahmad (five) Boisedu Johan (four) and Pavan Lopez (four) took the fight to the El Jaish camp. Lekhwiya goalkeeper Almalem Youssef had a good day under the bar keeping out a lot of the shots and he was happy with his performance.
"We wanted to win, but losing only to the reigning champions and finishing second, after last season's fifth place in our first ever appearance at the Asian Clubs' League, is a huge accomplishment. Today is a great day for Lekhwiya. We are a new team with so many young players."
The goalkeeper played down the Tomic's absence.
"We mustn't focus on who was missing and why. We could have had more absentees or injured players. We are a team consisting 16 players and everyone can anytime get in and play his role in a game," Youssef added.
Meanwhile, Al Qurain won the Kuwaiti derby against Al Kuwait Club 35-30 to clinch third place.
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