Persiwa Wamena was defeated by VB Sports of Maldives 3-2 to kick off their Asian Football Confederation cup group G qualifier at Gajayana Stadium on Wednesday.

The Indonesian club initially took control of the game and went ahead in the 10th minute with a brilliant goal by midfielder Erick Lewis. The host led the game until the end of the first half.

With almost all of the VB Sports players playing for the country's national team, VB had chances to make up, and it happened when captain Ali Ashfaq Dhagey scored the equalizer for VB in the 52nd minute.

Persiwa then restored their lead when forward Eddie Foday Boakai added the second in the 63rd minute.

Only two minutes after Boakai's goal, VB scored another through the feet of forward Akram Abdul Gani, executing a free kick from the left side of the Persiwa's bar.

Ali Umar found the rebounded ball from Hussain's shot later in the game and scored the winner.

Persiwa played the final 20 minutes of the game with 10 players after Fendry Mofu was given his marching orders with a second yellow for a foul on Assad Ali Adubarey.

Persiwa, in fact, played a tactful match that was attended by around 500 fans. However their finishing was weak, mostly due to a lack of communication between players, which meant their attempts at goal were easily routed by the VB Sports back line.

Coach Zaenal Abidin said that in the second half his players were slow in attack, which let them down time and again.

"I was shouting again and again from the edge of the field but they looked like they had lost their concentration and repeatedly miscommunicated with one another," said Abidin.

VB Sports coach Bahtiyar Can Vanli said that they had a superb game and noted the excellent performance of foreign player Hussein and Ali Umar.

"Ali Umar showed one of the best performances of his career today and Hussein was superb," Can Vanli said.

"They scored a beautiful goal early in the game but we dominated the second half. Due to rain, the pitch wasn't very good in the second half and their second goal was a result of that."

Bahtiyar Can Vanli said they had paid special attention on their defense to Persiwa's forward players.

VB's next game in the AFC cup will be against Muang Thong United of Thailand on 7th April.

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