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Al Wahda snatch a point; Al Ain and Emirates lose opener

Al Ain Football Team lost their opening match in the 2011 AFC Champions League to FC Seoul of Korea with a solitary goal this evening at Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Stadium.  The Serbian player Damjanovic Dejan scored the lone goal of the game in the 25th minute. The home team, the winners of the inaugural edition of the AFC Champions League in 2003, demonstrated a poor display in the first session but they recovered after the break, created a number of scoring chances but failed to find the back of the net. The Iranian referee Ali  Reza  awarded the hosts a penalty when Ali Alwihaibi was brought down inside the six yard area in the 66th minute and their Brazilian player Elias failed to slam the ball home when he sent a weak volley that easily controlled by the visitors' custodian Kim Yong. Al Ain will take on Nagoya Grampus from Japan in the second round at the latters' pitch while Seoul will face Hangzhou Green Town from China.

On the other hand Al Wahda were tied to a 1-1 draw in their match played against the Uzbek team FC Bunyodkor at Al Nahyan Stadium. The home team came from behind to level the score through their Brazilian player Hugo Henrique three minutes to time to snatch a valuable point for his side. Azizbek Haydarov was the first to score when he slammed the ball home only six minutes from the final whistle. The Uzbek's joy did not live long as Hugo reduced the deficit three minutes later.  

In the third match of the day, debutants Emirates were close to come back home with one point but unfortunately they lost their first International game 1-2 to the Iranian side Zobahan at the winners' Stadium.

The visitors played brilliantly demonstrating a neat football and their hard work yielded the first goal of the match when Nabil Al Daoudi from Morocco put them in the lead six minutes before the end of the first half. Seyed Mohammed Hosseini pulled one back with a perfect header capitalizing off a joint error committed by the goalkeeper Ahmad Ibrahim and his defenders in the 45th minute to end the first session with a 1-1 draw. Igor Jose Castro made it 2-1 nine minutes after the break. He drove the ball home when his teammate sent a shot that rebounded off the team's goalkeeper.