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Al Wasl overcome Al Wahda 3-0 to keep chasing Al Jazira

Al Wasl defeated Al Wahda 3-0 in the third round match of the Etisalat Cup held tonight at Zabeel Stadium to stay as runner up with a balance of 6 points, three points behind Group "A" leaders Al Jazira.  The winners finished the first session with a 2-0 lead netted by Olivera and Rashid Essa before Rashid Ali added the third goal in the last minute of the game.

The hosts did not wait long as only five minutes have passed before Olivera put them into the lead when he received a pass inside the box, faced the goalkeeper Motaz Abdullah and drove the ball into the far left hand side. This early goal booster the morals of Al Wahda's players who took full control of the match benefiting of the fact that their rivals played the game missing a number of their key players including Ismail Matar, goalkeeper Adil Al Hosani, Basheir Saeed, Mohammad Al Shihhy, Mahmoud Khamis, Khalid Jalal, Hamdan Al Kamali and Essa Santo who are currently in National duty with the UAE Senior Football team who will face South Korea on October 11th in the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  The losers were highly affected by the absence of these players.

Al Wasl made many forays before the interval but lost a number of chances due to the defensive tactics applied by Al Wahda. But Al Wasl's continuous efforts yielded the second goal via Rashid Essa in the 15th minute. The display of both teams dropped down and they couldn't benefit from the chances that came their way till the end of the first half which witnessed the sent off of Al Wahda's player Salim Saleh after a rough play with Rashid Essa.

Despite of the winners absolute control, but they could not add more than one goal scored by Rashid Ali in the 91st minute off a strong volley that beat Al Wahda's goalie. His teammate Rashid Essa lost a chance in the 56th minute when he received a long pass from Edson, but his close-range shot rebounded off the right up.