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UFL Teams fighting for Etisalat Cup Semifinal qualification

With the majority of teams still in contention for a semifinals sport, we expect to see some hard fought battles during this weekend's round of Etisalat Cup matches. The two squads that finish the preliminary stage on top of their group will proceed to the next stage.

Some teams will miss a number of key players due to their participation with the UAE Senior Team in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, which is due to kick off on Friday January 7th in Qatar. The list of National Team players includes Ali Khusaif , Khalid Sabeel, Subait  Khatir and Abdullah Mussa from Al Jazira; Faris Juma'a, Ali Wihaibi and Omar Abdel Rahman from Al Ain; Hamdan Al Kamali, Mahmoud Khamis ,Mohammad Al Shehhi, Ismail Matar and Saeed Al Kathery from Al Wahda; Yousuf Jabir, Diyab Awana, Amer Abdul-Rahman and Muhammad Fawzi from Bani Yas; Walid Abbas fromAl Shabab; Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil and Obaid Al Taweela from Al Ahli; Amir Mubarak Ghanem from Al Nasr; and Majed Nasser and Saeed Al Kas from Al Wasl.

Al Wahda will travel to the Western Region to face Al Dhafra at 6:40pm on Friday night at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium. The hosts have 9 points and are in second place, and will hope to add three more points to keep their hopes alive in the struggle for the semifinal stage. Al Wahda are currently sitting in the fourth spot with 8 points and a win will move them into the heart of the competition.

The two Dubai-based teams, Dubai and Al Nasr will meet in the second game of the evening at Al Maktoum Stadium and both teams will be hoping to clinch victory and continue their fight toward the Etisalat Cup crown.  The home team Al Nasr are in fifth position in Group A with 8 points whilst Dubai are in second position with 9 points. Dubai maintained a 6-3 win over Bani Yas in Week 7 of the competition, a defeat that pushed Bani Yas to the bottom of the table with 7 points. They will be hoping to improve on this in the third match of the day when they host Group A leaders Al Ain At Al Shamkha pith.

On Saturday, Al Shabab and Al Wasl will face each other in a tough game as both teams are tied with 12 points and will be hoping to take the lead and qualify to the next stage. In the other two encounters of the evening Al Ahli face Al Jazira at Rashid Stadium and Sharjah will host Kalba. Kalba are in third place with 11 points, four ahead of Sharjah who are in fifth position with 7 points . Al Jazira have collected 8 points so far which sees them in fourth position and Al Ahli are at the bottom of the standings with only 4 points, a balance that has put them out of contention. All three matches on Saturday will kick off at 6:30pm.