Al Wahda overcome Al Ain 2-1 to collect three valuable points

Al Wahda, winners of the Super Cup a couple of days ago, started their march with a 2-1 victory over Al Ain in their Etisalat Cup match held tonight at Rashid Stadium in Al Ahli Club in Dubai. The winners collected three valuable points the same that of Al Jazira and Dubai who are also playing in Group "A".

Both teams played without a number of their key players. Al Ain missed the efforts of their newly signed Asamoah Gyan from Ghana who is yet to start training with the team next week along with injured Ali Al Wihabi, Hilal Saeed and their duo Olympic Team's players Mohammad Fayez and Mohammad Abdul Rahman while Al Wahda missed Bayno, Hayder Allo Ali and Hamdan Al Kamali for injury besides goalkeeper Adil Al Hosani, Salim Saleh who are in National duty with the UAE Olympic Team.

Al Ain Controlled the game from the start creating a series of scoring chances, but Al Wahda spoiled all their attempts. The winners relied on defensive tactics in the opening minutes unlike their rivals Al Ain who played an attacking football trying to find the back of the net. Al Wahda made some rare attacks, but they could not threaten Al Ain's goalkeeper Dawood Sulaiman.

Against the run of play, Al Wahda took the lead off a penalty kick when midfielder Rami Yaslam collided with Mahmoud Khamis and referee Abdullah Al Ajil did not hesitate to point for a penalty and Brazilian striker Hugo did not make a mistake when he sent the ball to the right hand side in the 21^st minute. Al Ain went on their attempts trying to score the equalizer and Rami Yaslam came close to make their dreams come true when he sent a left-footer from inside the six yard area for Al Wahda's goalkeeper Motaz Abdullah to deflect the ball to a corner in the 31^st minute. Al Ain looked the better side after putting more pressure on their opponents ' defense. Yasir Al Gahtani from Saudi Arabia tried to score with a backward kick, but his shot missed the target two minutes later and his teammate Mohammad Malalla lost a close-range opportunity when he sent the ball from inside the box into the goalkeeper's hands in the 34^th minute. The situation remained the same in the last minutes for Al Wahda to end the first session with a 1-0 lead.

The winners' made things difficult for the losers' when Brazilian Hugo scored the second goal only five minutes after the break. He received a long ball from the left flank; rested it on his chest before slamming it into the net to make it 2-0.

Al Ain's Romanian coach Cosmin brought in midfielder Salim Abdullah to replace full back Mohammad Salim in the 56^th minute. Saeed Al Katheri who replaced Ismail Mattar immediately after the breather, was unhappy to see his first attempt rebounded off the upright and the second being saved by goalie Dawood Sulaiman in the 58^th minute.

The two coaches Cosmin and Heksberger made two changes when Hazza Salim replaced Yasir Al Gahtani for Al Ain and Amer Omer came in to substitute Al Wahda's injured striker Hugo.

 Al Ain carried on their attempts and their Argentinean striker Skoko lost a valuable chance when he collected the ball inside the box; faced goalie Motaz Abdullah but the latter made a superb save. Al Ain went on putting more pressure on their rivals and their efforts helped them to reduce the deficit and score their lone goal in the 76^th minute with a perfect header sent by Ismail Ahmed. The losers exerted more efforts in the last minutes but they lost all the chances to end the game with a 2-1 win for Al Wahda.