Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sept 16: Diego Maradona's first match in charge of UAE club Al Wasl ended in an agonizing 4-3 defeat by league champion Al Jazira on Thursday after his side conceded the fourth goal in stoppage time
Al Wasl, which lost 4-0 to Al Jazira on the day Maradona's signing was announced in mid-May, had rallied from being 3-1 down at halftime to equalize. All three goals for Al Wasl were scored by Argentine Mariano Donda, a recent signing by the coach.
Brazilian striker Bare headed Al Jazira's late winner at the Mohammed Bin Zayed stadium.
It was a vintage performance though from Maradona. The man with two watches showed intense emotions on the sidelines, throwing his hands up and arguing with officials when things went wrong for his side, and letting out a protracted war-cry when Donda scored the second of his three goals.
He pleased the crowd by juggling with a ball, and then blamed the organizers for arriving late for his news conference.
Delighted with his team's effort, especially at the way they fought back in the second half, Maradona said: “I thank my players because they did very well. They fought to a man in the field and in the end I am very happy with them.
“The second half, my team was the only one on the pitch there was no one against us. The players did their best and the result should have been 3-3.”
Unhappy, though, with some of the refereeing decisions, the former World Cup winner believed that Ricardo Oliveira was offside for Al Jazira's third goal.
“There is a penalty we should have had, which we didn't get,” he said. “And they had a goal they shouldn't have. But as I said, in the second half, Jazira were not on the field.”
Apart from Bare and Oliveira, Al Jazira's other goals came from Ibrahim Diaky and Matias Delgado. The side also has a new coach in Franky Vercauteren, the former coach of Belgian club Genk. AP
