The emotions were overwhelming at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, when Togolese international Laba Kudjou gave his first goal to Al Ain in the Arabian Gulf Football League.He came against the Kalba team for his father, who died last Wednesday. «Tigers» towards the bench of his team to raise a white shirt carrying the image of his late father with a phrase written in English letters and means «rest in peace dad».
Al Ain had taken a difficult win from Kalba 3-2, which came after suffering for the «leader» although he plays at home and his fans, and considered Al Ain coach, Croatian Ivan Lecco that «it is unacceptable to receive two goals against Al Ain at home and the public» He said he would seek to correct the mistakes the players made during the match.
"We beat a deserved Kalba," he told the news conference. "We achieved the most important thing despite the absence of Caillou after a minor injury in the last 10 minutes of the final training."
He continued: «I admit that there is a slow transfer of the ball, but we managed to score three goals out of seven chances achieved».
He continued: «We have scored goals as we trained them, and I and the technical staff assisted me with full conviction and great confidence in all elements, we have faced a team playing in a defensive manner tight and narrow spaces».
Lapa Kodjo was one of the stars of the meeting, as he played the game despite his difficult psychological situation, after the death of his father after a conflict with the disease. He preferred to play the opening game in the league instead of traveling and attending the funeral in his hometown of Togo.
Not only did Kodjo score the opening goal, but he played other roles, including making the second goal scored by Jamal Maarouf and playing defensive roles at times, which helped ease the pressure on his team's defense against a flood of attacks led by Kalba players.
Al Ain Aouina fans were crowned the best player of the match, after a heated competition with Algerian Abdelrahman Meziane and defender Said Jomaa in the referendum held by the club's official website through his official accounts on social media after the end of the meeting.
It is noteworthy that the Togolese player proved his early presence with the team by scoring two goals against Shabab Al Ahli in the first round of the Arabian Gulf Cup, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
After the match, Lapa Kudjou headed towards the stands facing the main stage, which saw a large number of Togolese fans waiting to greet him for his performance during the game.
On the other hand, Al Ain supervisor Mohammed Obaid Hammad said that Caillou will need two weeks of treatment before participating in the team's collective training, which means his absence formally from Al Wasl in the second round next Thursday. Hammad denied in a press statement that the absence of Cayo because of a dispute between him and the coach, considering it a rumor.
Viviani: We don't deserve to lose
The Kalba coach, Fabio Viviani, said he was satisfied with his team's performance. He stressed at the press conference that Kalba «is not worth the loss compared to what he has provided». "Receiving a goal in the last few minutes was because of the mistakes we made. Al Ain team benefited from these mistakes and scored the winning goal."