CAIRO: Egypt goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadari insisted he is not to blame for the two goals Young Boys scored against Sion in the Swiss League on Sunday.
I m not to blame for the goals Sion conceded today, Al-Hadari told FilGoal.com after the match.
I saved many opportunities which would have handed our opponents a much bigger win. Sion technical staff had words of praise for me after the game.
Young Boys beat Sion, who finished with nine men on the field after two dismissals, 2-1 in Al-Hadari s second match with the seventh-placed side.
The former Ahly keeper may be considered as the culprit for Young Boys equalizer through Baykal Kulaksizoglu.
He jumped to clear a cross but poorly punched the ball towards a Young Boys player, whose shot was diverted by Kulaksizoglu into the net from close range.
Al-Hadari failed to quickly regain his place between the posts after clearing the cross, allowing Kulaksizoglu to score.
However, the 35-year-old goalie could do nothing to prevent Young Boys Alberto Regazzoni from adding the second after the latter s deflected shot found its way into the net.
Young Boys netted the winner after a defensive mistake from us, Al-Hadari said.
Al-Hadari believes the referee s decision cost Sion a win against the Swiss League leaders.
We started the game very well and dominated the first-half, but the referee s decision to send off Vilmos Vanczak dearly affected us.
All the referee s decisions went against us. He red-carded two of our players and handed us seven yellow cards.
The match was very difficult. We were facing the league leaders, who have the best scoring record. They also wanted to make amends for their last week s defeat, he added.
