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Al Jazira and Al Wahda fight for President’s Cup title

 

Two Abu Dhabi-based teams - Al Jazira, current leaders of the Etisalat Pro-League,  and current title holders Al Wahda - will meet tomorrow at Zayed Sports City Stadium to determine the champion of the prestigious President's Cup competition for season 2010-2011. It is the first time in the history of the competition that Al Wahda and Al Jazira will face each other in the final. The match will kick off at 5:55pm.

The two squads have been preparing for the decisive encounter for the past few days, with the two coaches, Josef Hickersberger of Al Wahda and Able Braga of Al Jazira, likely to field their strongest teams. They will play with full squads as both teams have all key players available with no injuries or suspensions. The two teams will conduct their last training session this evening at Zayed Sports City Stadium.

Al Jazira will be led by goalkeeper Ali Khusaif, Brazilian players Bare and Ricardo De Oliveira along with Argentinean Matías Delgado, Subait Khatir, Ibrahim Diaky, Khalid Sabeel, Abdullah Mousa, Ahmad Juma'a, Juma'a Abdullah and Khalid Jalal. Al Wahda are expected to start the game with custodian Adil Al Hosani, Fahad Masoud, Basheir Saeed, Hamdan Al Kamali, Haidar Alo Ali, Hugo, Abdul Rahim Juma'a, Magrao, Mohammad Al Shehhy, Ismaiel Matar and Fernando Bayano.

Al Jazira started their march to the final of the President's Cup Competition by beating Ras Al Khaimah with a thrilling 7-0 win in the preliminary stages, before eliminating Al Nasr in the pre-quarter stage with a 2-1 victory. They continued their winning streak with a hard fought 3-2 win over Emirates Club in the quarterfinal followed by an impressive 4-1 defeat of Al Shabab.

Al Jazira have qualified to the final of the President's Cup Competition only once in 2002, when they lost to Al Ahli 1-3.

Al Wahda / commenced their campaign from  stage 16 of this year's competition, beating Ajman 5-1 and Masafi 2-0 in the quarterfinal. They secured a berth in the final with a 2-1 victory over Al Wasl.

Al Wahda have qualified to the finals of the President's Cup five times before, but have won the title only once  in the 1999-2000 season when they overcame Al Wasl  8-7 on penalty shootouts after both teams were held to a 1-1 draw in original and added time. .

Al Jazira has not lost a single match since the start of the Etisalat Pro-League Competition this season and are looking sure favourites to secure the title this year even with seven matches still remaining.

The coaches of the two teams spoke at a press conference on Saturday, April 9, with both  sounding confident in their team's ability to win the title.

"We planned to win all of last season's competitions but were unsuccessful in all except the Etisalat Cup. I spoke to the players at the beginning of this season telling them that it is our chance to win this time," said Al Jazira's coach Abel Braga. "We have two chances to win a title this season whereas Al Wahda have only one chance to win silverware with the President's Cup so they will come out fighting."

Al Wahda's coach Josef Hickersberger sounded out a warning to their rivals saying, "It is our last opportunity to come up with a title and save our season. Last season we were crowned champions of the Etisalat Pro-League competition, but this time we are out of the running. There is pressure tomorrow on me and my players as well, but there is more pressure on Al Jazira's coach and his players because they are favourites to win ."