AFC Cup Final: Bengaluru FC's opponents will miss two of their best attackers due to suspension
IN THE SECOND LEG of the semi-finals Bengaluru FC got an edge due to Johor Darul Ta'zim having three of their attackers suspended due to past bookings. A similar stroke of luck will possibly give them an edge in the final as well.
Al Quwa Al Jawiya, as BFC's final opponent AirForce Club from Iraq are known in Arabic, had a particularly hard-fought game against Al Ahed club from Lebanon in the second leg of the AFC Cup semi-finals where they came out on top 2-3. But en route to victoty the AirForce Club picked up many bookings; 3 yellows and one straight red to be precise.
The straight red went to Bashar Rasan Bonyan. This attacking midfielder is particularly important for his club, as wel as the Iraqi national team. In the current AFC Cup campaign, Bashar has started almost every game for AirForce Club and has scored 4 goals in the last 7 matches. In fact, before getting sent off, he had found the net twice on the night. He played the single most important role in the club reaching the final. But thanks to that straight red he will not be able to play in the final.
The second player who will be missing has the record of some sort of a superman. Hammadi Ahmad, a 27 year old striker who wears the number 10 jersey for AirForce Club, is a literal goal machine. And he has been on fire lately. In the 10 matches that he has played at AFC Cup 2016, he has scored 15 goals, including a hat-trick and three braces. He has literally found the net in every single AFC Cup game. As a forward, he is methodical, imposing and physical. He's been involved in many an altercation throughout this campaign, and that has resulted him picking up 4 yellow cards so far. Unfortunaltely for him, the fourth one happened in the semi-final second leg (after he had scored yet again) and led to his suspension from the final.
So the two most dangerous players from the AirForce Club's attack, the very two players who scored the 3 goals that ensured the team's path to the final, are out. This is as big a blow to a team's offsensive line-up as it gets and presents to Bengaluru FC a golden opportunity to strike the iron while it's hot and bend it to the shape of Q and make sure that history is made.
Does this mean things will be easy for BFC? No way. There are still the likes of Amjad Radhi, Emad Mehsen and Zahir Midani to take care of. But in an objective comparison, they do look like a much lesser threat than the presence of Bashar and Hammadi would have posed.
