Tractor scape defeat against Al Wakrah at ACL Two
TEHRAN – Iran’s Tractor fought back to hold Qatar’s Al Wakrah 3-3 in Group A of the AFC Champions League 2024/25 at the Rashid Stadium on Wednesday.
The result meant Al Wakrah joined Tractor FC in the knockout stage with the Qatar side to play Tajikistan’s FC Ravshan in their concluding tie next week.
Al Wakrah, who needed just a point to join Tractor in the Round of 16, had a dream start when Shojae Khalilzadeh gave the ball away to Farid Boulaya to set up Ricardo Gomes for a simple finish from close range.
The Iranian side were back on level terms in the 45th minute after Ricardo Alves sent a well-timed long ball to Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh, who muscled his way past his marker before lifting the ball over Al Bakri.
Al Wakrah came back fighting and retook the lead six minutes after the restart from a set-piece situation with Almahdi Ali steering Gelson Dala’s set-up into the back of the net, the-afc.com reported.
The Qatari side netted again in the 69th minute after Dala found space inside the area before finishing with a curling effort.
Tractor, however, refused to concede defeat with Mehdi Hashemnejad narrowing the deficit after finishing a fine team move in the 75th minute.
A lapse in concentration paved the way for the Iranian side to draw level for the second time after Hashemnejad’s clever touch past his marker provided the opening for the midfielder to score a clinical finish in the 87th minute.