News Center

Al Ain win the league title three rounds prior to the end

Al Ain captured the 4th edition of the Etisalat Pro League Championship of this season three rounds prior to the end of the competition following their two straight goals victory over Al Jazira in their round 19 game held tonight at Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Stadium in Qattara among a big mass of spectators totalling to 15187 persons.

The winners raised their tally to 46 points, ten points ahead of second-placed Al Shabab who have collected 36 points while Al Jazira are classified in third position with 35 points. The Saudi star Yasser Al Gahtani scored both goals for the hosts in the 8th and 21st minutes.

Al Ain put more pressure on their rivals defence from the word go while the visitors failed to reach their opponents goal in the first 20 minutes. Al Gahtani did not wait long to open the scores when he found the back of the net only 8 minutes into play when he saw Al Jazira advancing goalkeeper Ali Khusaif to hook the ball over his head into the net scoring the first goal of the match. Al Jazira tried their best to bring the match into parity but they failed as they played below the par and without creating any dangerous chances. The Saudi striker Al Gahtani made it 2-0 in the 21st minute off Asamoah Gyan’s strong volley that rebounded off the keeper’s hands; hit Al Gahtani’s body and retuned into the net.

 Inspired by these two goals, Al Ain controlled the game giving the visiting team hard time and they could have even scored more goals had not the Ghanaian player Asamoah Gyan squandered a number of scoring opportunities in many occasions to end the first session with a 2-0 win for the home team.

The two coaches, Caio Junior of Al Jazira and Olario Cozmin of Al Ain made some substitutions during the second half as the former brought in Saleh Basheir and Khalid Sabeel to replace Ali Abbas and Salim Masaud, and Cozmin pulled out midfielder Hilal Saeed and fielded in Mohammed Abdul Rahman and later on he substituted Argentinean Scocco to replace Yasser Al Gahtani, but the two teams could not add more goals. Asamoah Gyan was not lucky enough yesterday as he lost a number of chances through the entire time the last of which came five minutes to time when his header missed the target.

Al Ain players, the team’s technical body along with other staff members and a big number of fans celebrated these memorable moments after the match on the field and inside the dressing room as well.