{"id":842,"date":"2019-11-15T19:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T09:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?p=842"},"modified":"2026-09-23T13:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T04:00:16","slug":"mahdi-khalil-dreams-of-a-bright-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/mahdi-khalil-dreams-of-a-bright-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahdi Khalil dreams of a bright future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the AFC Cup in the bag, Mahdi Khalil has set his sights on the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and his next chapter.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When Mahdi Khalil was called up to the podium to accept the 2019 AFC Cup MVP award, he thought he had misheard the speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they told me that I won it, I thought it was for being the best goalkeeper in the tournament,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no such accolade exists. Instead, Khalil was being\nofficially recognised as the best player in the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s the first goalkeeper to win the MVP award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was really surprised,\u201d Khalil said. \u201cWhen you\nhave strikers or midfielders, they do fancy stuff and people like to see that\nmore. They also have a greater chance of winning such awards.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khalil credits his determination and statistics as the\nreasons behind his successful campaign. He started all 11 of Al Ahed’s AFC Cup\ngames this year, and he kept a clean sheet in nine of them. He only conceded\nthree goals; all in the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I worked hard for it,” he said. “I\u2019m a guy\nthat always had a big passion for the game, so I\u2019m thankful for the\naward.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, being MVP would not have mattered had Al Ahed\nnot finished as champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinning individual awards is good, but at the end of the\nday, we play as a team and you want to win titles with teams,\u201d Khalil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yellow Wall have been one of the AFC Cup’s top\nteams for the past half-decade or so. They’ve qualified for the tournament in\nthree of the last four seasons, and they’ve accumulated a total record of\n17-9-4 (wins-draws-losses) over that period. Each of their last two losses came\nagainst former champions Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, and they’ve only lost once in the\ncompetition’s last two editions combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season, despite seeing their top scorer, Mohamad\nKdouh, leave on loan following the group stage, and despite scoring just three\ngoals in five knockout games (including the final), Al Ahed still maintained an\nunbeaten 7-4-0 record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the squad’s recent history of success, Khalil is not\nsurprised by his side’s dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe players already had a winning mentality through the domestic competitions; we won the league three times in a row and the [Lebanese FA Cup] two times in a row,” he said. “So they have that winning spirit, that winning mentality.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mahdi Khalil accepts the AFC Cup MVP award. (Photo: Asian Football Confederation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He also singled out the work done by head coach Bassem\nMarmar, as well as the assistance of an unnamed technical coach which Al Ahed\nbrought in following the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe coach [Bassem Marmar] knew how to motivate us, knew\nhow to keep us ready for each game,\u201d Khalil said. \u201cBut I think the technical\ncoach, when he came, he helped us see our weak and strong points. He would call\neach player and show him the player that he would face, and his strengths and\nweaknesses. So that helped us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After falling to the eventual champions in both the 2016\nand 2018 editions of the AFC Cup, it was nice for Al Ahed to finally taste\ncontinental success for a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It wasn’t easy, but it’s a dream that came true for all of the players,” Khalil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given Mahdi Khalil’s successes in 2019 – the Lebanese domestic double and an AFC Cup championship – it’s hard to argue against this year being the best of Khalil’s career. But it didn’t start off that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 19, the Cedars faced off against North Korea in\nthe AFC Asian Cup. It was the final group game for Lebanon, who had previously\nlost to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They had no chance of qualifying to the\nknockout stage as one of Group E’s top two teams, but they still had an\nopportunity at qualifying as one of the tournament’s top third-placed teams.\nAll they had to do was beat North Korea by a large margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the ninth minute, Lebanon went down 0-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North Koreans had won a free kick about 30 yards away\nfrom Khalil’s goal. Pak Kwang-Ryong stepped up to take it, and he struck a\nrelatively tame shot to Khalil’s left side. But Khalil, caught by the ball’s\nbounce, couldn’t control it properly, and the shot slipped under his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Chollima <\/em>celebrated, Khalil could\nonly look up at the stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Playing in a big tournament, all eyes are on you, the\npressure is on you, and something like that happens? It sucked,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebanon’s attackers would rally back to win the game 4-1, but it was not enough. The Cedars went out on disciplinary points after tying with Vietnam on points and goal differential for the final third-place qualification spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had Khalil not allowed that free kick to slip underneath him, Lebanon would’ve qualified to the Asian Cup knockout rounds for the first time ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen that happened, it was the worst feeling in my life,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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