KUWAIT CITY, Nov 3: Kuwait Sports Club made history on Tuesday evening after beating Syria’s Al-Karama club 2-1 to clinch the 6th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup.  Kuwait Sports Club owe their victory to their foreign hire from Oman Ismail Al-Ajmi who scored the second and winning goal with a beautiful header in the dying minutes of the match after the match seemed certain to go into extra time as the stoppage time was being played. Earlier, Hussain Hakim Al Shammari scored the first goal in the first half to give Kuwait Sports Club a 1-0 lead at the end of the half. Al-Karama Club’s Ahmed Adeeb scored the equalizer for his team in the 81st minute to silence the home crowd which had to wait for nearly 12 minutes more before Kuwait scored the winning goal and they erupted in joy.

Kuwait Club dominated the first half of the game. The closest attacks for Kuwait Club at the first half was when Al-Ajmi hit with his head in addition to side kick of Fahad Awadh in the 33rd minute of the game, and Al-Karama got their first close attack at 8 minute of the game by Atef Junyat and another one by Al-Hamoudi in 32 minute.
In the second half of the game, the Kuwaiti goalkeeper Musab Al-Kandari saved shots by Mohammed Al-Hamoudi at 58 and 65 minutes of the game, and Al-Kandari also saved many shots during the extra time. Many MPs and Ministers and other personalities attended the game including Chairman of Asian Football Union Mohamed Bin Hamam and officials of Kuwait Club in addition to very large number of fans who cheered Kuwaiti players. Overall the two teams played well. Prior to the final, the AFC said that in 12 games of the knockout stage,  nearly 200,000 fans turned out to watch the games, averaging about 16,000 fans at each match.

The semifinal second-leg between Hong Kong’s South China and Kuwait SC drew a record 38,000 fans to the Hong Kong Stadium, the most for any match in this tournament.
To reach the final, Kuwait beat Hong Kong’s South China 3-1 on aggregate in the semifinals while Al-Karamah defeated Vietnam’s Becamex Binh Duong 4-2 over two legs.
The two sides met in the group stages with each winning their home game 2-1.
The head of Asia’s football governing body, Mohammed bin Hammam noted earlier that the clash between the Kuwaiti and Syrian clubs in the final round of  the competition  was  a clear sign of the high standards of the sport in West Asia. On the threat of the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) receiving international suspension he explained that the KFA general assembly was faced with two scenarios; the first being agreeing to a 14-member local club committee as mentioned in the Kuwaiti constitution, and the other, agreeing to a five-member committee as seen by the AFC. “The choice taken by the general assembly we will back strongly,” he remarked.

“We have to find an end to this tragedy which has solely affected Kuwaiti football,” he added, saying he hoped Kuwaiti clubs would stand firm in time to come and would be up to the task of taking a decisive decision.
The president also said that the AFC would be “damaged” by the suspension of Kuwaiti football.
On his part, administrative head of Al-Kuwait SC Marzouq Al-Ghanim welcomed the AFC president’s visit, saying he hoped the match would be a spectacle worthy of the reputation of Kuwait as a major sports event hosting centre.
Al-Ghanim also said he looked forward to a full-house attendance at the 18, 000 seater Kuwait SC Stadium on Tuesday.