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Al Ain Qualify to Etisalat Cup semifinal

Al Ain made their way successfully to qualify to the second stage of Etisalat Cup Competition maintaining their fifth victory following their 2-1 win over hosts Dubai in the encounter played tonight at the losers' pitch in week 9. The winners raised their tally to 19 points to remain the first team to secure themselves a berth in the golden square. In spite of losing against Al Ain, Dubai who have currently 10 points, must win their match against hosts Al Dhafra in week 10 and then wait for the results of the other matches.

On the other hand, Al Wahda strengthened their hopes to qualify to the semifinals after beating Bani Yas 2-0 in the game played at Al Nahyan Stadium this evening. Both goals were netted by Fernando Bayano who found the back of the net only five minutes into the match and added the second six minutes before the final whistle off a penalty when Bani Yas's defender Ali Masari brought Fahd Masaud down inside the box. Masari was shown the red card and his teammate Fawzi Basheir the Omani player was also given marching orders earlier when he pushed the referee back four minutes before the break. Al Wahda raised their tally to 14 points while Bani Yas remain at the bottom of the table with only 8 points, a balance that put them out of contention.

In the third match of the day which was played at Al Maktoum Stadium, Al Dhafra returned to the Western region with three valuable points after defeating the hosts team Al Nasr 1-0. Faisal Al Hamadi scored the all-important goal of the match in the 77 minute. The winners finished the game with ten players after their player Ahmad Abdullah was sent off in the    67th minute. This loss dashes Al Nasr's hopes who finished the competition sitting second from the bottom of group "A" with nine points.