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Al Ain and Emirates revive hopes to move to the best 16

 

The UAE four teams Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Wahda and Emirates came out of their 2011 AFC Champions League clashes played on last Tuesday and Wednesday April 19 and 20 with two wins, a draw and a loss. The four squads scored five goals and conceded four.

Al Ain and Emirates squads revived their hopes and strengthened their chances of reaching the last 16 in the continental competition after emerging winners in their round 4 games beating Hangzhou Green Town of China 1-0 and Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia 2-1 respectively. Al Ain has raised their tally to four points, the same balance collected by the Chinese side, but Al Ain are sitting in 3rd position after winning in their head-to-head-match against Hangzhou.

 Both Al Ain and Hangzhou Green Town still trail leaders Nagoya Grampus of Japan and FC Seoul of South Korea by three points with two games to go. Al Ain will travel to South Korea to take on Seoul on May 4 before they host the Japanese side on May 11 and they need to struggle hard and beat both leaders to secure themselves a berth in the next stage.

Emirates team have a good chance to proceed forward after defeating Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia 2-1 raising their tally to 6 points that  put them into second place in Group D. They will face Zob Han of Iran at their home ground on May 3 before they fly to Qatar to battle it out against Al Rayyan. They are currently 4 points behind leaders Zob Han who defeated Al Rayyan by a lone goal in round 4. Al Shabab are in third place with 5 points and Al Rayyan are at the bottom of the table with a single point.

Al Jazira lost their opportunity and became totally out of contention after losing at home to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia 2-3. The visiting team rallied after the break from a two - goal deficit to maintain a credible 3-2 win. It was clear that Al Jazira were not content to go ahead in the 2011 AFC Champions League and their technical body and players were completely depressed after collecting one point from three matches. Their Brazilian coach Abel Braga was concentrating on their Etisalat Pro-League round 17 match against Al Dhafra at their stadium next Monday and for this reason he rested some of his key players who did not take part in the last game against Al Hilal. Al Jazira will face Al Gharafa on May 4 in Al Doha before they host Sepahan at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on May 11.

On the other hand Al Wahda boosted their hopes to move to third position in Group C following their goalless draw with Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium in Jeddah. They will play a tough game when they meet Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan on May 3 and conclude their preliminary stage matches with another strong game against Piroozi of Iran on May 10.