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Al Nasr and Al Ahli maintain first win; Al Jazira and Ajman stay on top of the standings

The third round of the Etisalat Cup, played on last Friday and Saturday, was full of sorrow due to the death of the UAE both Senior and Olympic teams' player Diyab Awana who passed away last week in a tragic car accident. Bani Yas players and their technical body were the most affected with this tragedy to the extent that they couldn't play at their home pitch against Al Nasr and preferred to transfer the game to Al Nahyan Stadium and postpone it for 24 hours. The match was played on Saturday instead of Friday.

According to the outcome of the third round, Al Jazira maintained full mark to stay on top of Group "A" with nine points followed by Al Wasl in the second position with six points, after a hard fought win over Dubai team who were close to level the result at any time especially when the winners played with ten players after their midfielder Ibrahima Diaky was shown the red card in the 68th minute. Al Jazira will miss Diaky's efforts in their forthcoming encounter against Al Ain in the 4th round scheduled for next Thursday. Dubai's loss was the main reason behind dismissing their Swiss coach Hemberto to become the first victim of the season. Dubai lost twice to Al Ain and Al Jazira and won only once against Emirates and they have only one point in their balance that put them at the bottom of Group "A".

Ajman also continued their successful march under the guidance of their Iraqi coach Abdul Wahab Abdul Gadir after beating Sharjah 3/2 to top Group "B" with 7 points, one point above second-placed Al Shabab whose loss to Al Ahli came in favor of Ajman. Their striker Ibrahima Tore netted a hat trick to lead the scorers with 5 goals.

The round also witnessed Al Ahli's first victory in Group "B" following their 3/1 win over Al Shabab. Al Ahli are currently classified in third spot with 4 points, one point above Al Nasr who have the same balance after overcoming Bani Yas by a solitary goal.

Al Wasl maintained a 3-0 win over Al Wahda to raise their tally to six points in the second place, three points behind leaders Al Jazira. It was the second successive loss for Al Wahda despite of their strong start that helped them to win the Super Cup after beating their traditional rivals Al Jazira. They also beat Al Ain in their first Etisalat Cup match but their technical standard deteriorated afterwards. Led by the Argentinean legend Diego Maradona, Al Wasl may jump to first position if they beat Dubai in the next round and Al Jazira lose to Al Ain in the same week. They demonstrated brilliant display in all three rounds played so far and they didn't deserve to lose 3/4 against Al Jazira in their opening match.