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220 goals scored in the first Round of the Etisalat Pro-League

The first Round of the Etisalat Pro-League has come to an end on Thursday December 23 with Al Jazira finishing this stage on top of the standings with 29 points following their 4-1 victory over Dubai on last Thursday night. The competition will break for an undefined period so as to pave the way for the UAE Senior National Team to prepare for the forthcoming Asian Football Championship due to kick off in Qatar next month. A date for the start of the Etisalat Pro-League second Round along with Al Wahda-Al Ahli postponed match from the week 9, will be fixed later.

The leaders Al Jazira, also took the advantage when they concluded the first Round as the best defense and offense lines after scoring 29 goals and conceding only eight followed by their nearest contenders Bani Yas who scored 23 goals and sit in the 2nd place with 24 points, and 12 of their balance of goals were scored by their Senegalian player Andre Sangahoor that put him on top of the scorers of the season. Bani Yas and Dubai remain the only two squads who haven't drawn since the beginning of the competition.

All 12 teams have netted 220 goals by the end of the first Round with both Sharjah and Al Ain being classified as the weakest front lines. Each of them scored only 14 goals in eleven matches with a rate of 1.23 goals in each game, while Dubai and Kalba who stay at the bottom of the table with 9 and 4 points respectively, scored 15 goals each.

Both Dubai-based Al Ahli and Al Wasl have collected 17 points each with the former taking the 4th position followed by Al Wasl in the 5th place as Al Ahli beat their rivals 4-1 in the second week. The other two Dubai-based teams Al Nasr and Al Shabab, have finished the first Round with 16 points in their tally. But Al Nasr, who beat Kalba 2-0 in their previous game, were classified in the 5th spot followed by Al Shaba as the former got the better of their competitors after beating them 3-2 in their fourth week's head-to-head game. It is also notable that Al Wahda who played only 10 matches have equalized Sharjah in the balance of points as each have collected 15 points for Al Wahda to stay in the 7th place, one position ahead of Sharjah on goal difference.

Al Dhafra rely one step above Al Ain in spite of both teams collecting 11 points each, but the former have the advantage of scoring more goals than Al Ain ( 16 against 14) to take 9th place. Al Ain hope to come back to the title struggle in the second Round after signing a new Brazilian Coach Alexander Gallo who followed the team's last game against Al Shabab from outside the pitch. Gallo said in a short statement after the game that Al Ain's performance was very slow and a lot of things need to be changed. The new coach will start his stint on Sunday morning when the team go into a closed warm-up camp before facing Al Dhafra in the 7th week of Etisalat Cup at home next Thursday December 30.

On the other hand, Dubai who lost to Al Jazira in the last game 1-4, are classified second from the bottom with nine points followed by Kalba in the last position with only four points. Both teams, Dubai and Kalba, have conceded the highest number of goals, Dubai received 30 goals and Kalba conceded 29.