AFC Women’s Champions League:
Khatoon edges Nasaf, stays in contention for knockout spot
Bam Khatoon defeated Uzbekistan’s PFC Nasaf 1-0 to revive its hopes of reaching the AFC Women’s Champions League quarterfinals.
Iran international Sara Didar scored 14 minutes into the game at Wuhan’s Hankou Culture Sports Centre, helping the Iranian champions bounce back from a 3-1 opening-day setback against India’s East Bengal.
The victory took Khatoon’s tally to three points in Group B, placing the club second among the best third-place teams across the three groups ahead of Sunday’s meeting with group host and defending champion Wuhan Jiangda, which had defeated the Indian champions 2-0 earlier on Thursday.
A draw – or even a one-goal defeat – will be enough to send Khatoon into the last eight of Asia’s elite club competition for a second consecutive season.
Nasaf had the first sight at goal through Maftuna Shoyimova’s free-kick in the 10th minute which Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva headed wide as the side from Uzbekistan controlled the early proceedings.
Against the run of play, Khatoon struck the opener four minutes later after Fatemeh Geraeli played a perfect pass behind Nasaf’s backline with Didar’s pace taking her away from Grace Adams to easily slot home.
Nasaf pushed hard for the equalizer but found a major stumbling block in Raha Yazdani who was in inspired form, saving two powerfully struck attempts from Khabibullaeva.
Yazdani produced arguably her best save in the 40th minute, showing great athleticism to make a one-handed stop to deny Nataliia Simakina’s point-blank header.
After the interval, Nasaf camped inside Bam Khatoon’s half but despite its dominance in possession, all it had were two Shoyimova shots from distance which were easily dealt with by Yazdani.
Seeing his side create so little, Nasaf head coach Khan Vladislav withdrew center-back Adams for attacker Mehribon Egamberdieva.
The persistent pressure from Nasaf, however, was without its rewards as Khatoon defended resiliently to hold out for the win.
Asian women’s coach of the year Marziyeh Jafari was pleased to see a resilient performance from her team.
“It was a pretty challenging and difficult match for us,” said Jafari. “Since we lost in the previous match, we didn’t have anything to lose so we gave it our all.
“We had many injured players and even during the match, we had to make two substitutions due to injuries. We had analyzed Nasaf and we knew what their strengths and weaknesses are.
“I’m very happy with my players that we could control the match and win the game.”