{"id":10868,"date":"2011-12-11T10:30:34","date_gmt":"2011-12-11T10:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/afful%e2%80%99s-dreams-of-facing-barcelona-shattered\/"},"modified":"2011-12-11T10:30:34","modified_gmt":"2011-12-11T10:30:34","slug":"affuls-dreams-of-facing-barcelona-shattered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/affuls-dreams-of-facing-barcelona-shattered\/","title":{"rendered":"Afful\u2019s Dreams Of Facing Barcelona Shattered"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Harrison Afful\u2019s hopes of playing Barcelona at the\u00a0Club World Cup were shattered when his Tunisian club Esperance were beaten 2-1 \u00a0by Al Sadd on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asian champions from Qatar ground out the win to set up a dream semi-final against European kings Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Afful came on as a second-half substitute for Iddrisa Coulibaly but he could not save his team from going down against the star-studded Qatari side.<\/p>\n

The Ghanaian had spoken of his hopes of playing Barcelona on the semi final to spark interest from European clubs.<\/p>\n

But his attempts were left in vain and will now face a fifth-place play-off.<\/p>\n

The Qatari side took the lead against the run of play in Toyota when Khalfan Al Khalfan headed home after a powerful run down the right from Kader Keita in the 33rd minute.<\/p>\n

Three minutes into the second half, Doha-based Al Sadd doubled their lead when captain Abdulla Koni swept home a Lee Jung-soo knockdown from point-blank range.<\/p>\n

Esperance grabbed a lifeline on the hour mark when skipper Oussama Darragi\u2019s flicked headed crept in at the far post but he was furious to be substituted a little over 10 minutes later.<\/p>\n

The Tunisians twice had goals ruled offside in a frantic final few minutes but ultimately paid for their wastefulness in front of goal.<\/p>\n

Barcelona left for the Far East immediately after beating Real Madrid 3-1 in Saturday\u2019s \u2018Clasico\u2019 to leapfrog their bitter rivals at the top of La Liga.<\/p>\n

Barca take on Al Sadd on December 15 in Yokohama with the final of the seven-team tournament at the same venue three days later.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Kashiwa Reysol were playing Mexican side Monterrey in the second quarterfinal later on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Previous post: Chelsea\u2019s Benayoun Reluctant To Talk Up Arsenal Stay<\/a>
Next post: Man City Boss Mancini Doesn\u2019t Believe Title Battle Affected By Manchester Horror<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harrison Afful\u2019s hopes of playing Barcelona at the\u00a0Club World Cup were shattered when his Tunisian club Esperance were beaten 2-1 \u00a0by Al Sadd on Sunday. Asian champions from Qatar ground out the win to set up a dream semi-final against European kings Barcelona. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nAfful\u2019s Dreams Of Facing Barcelona Shattered - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/affuls-dreams-of-facing-barcelona-shattered\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Afful\u2019s Dreams Of Facing Barcelona Shattered - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Harrison Afful\u2019s hopes of playing Barcelona at the\u00a0Club World Cup were shattered when his Tunisian club Esperance were beaten 2-1 \u00a0by Al Sadd on Sunday. 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