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Al Wasl beat Al Ain with a lone goal and jump to second position

 

Al Wasl moved two steps forward to take runners up in Group "A "with 9 points, three points behind the leaders Al Jazira, after beating Al Ain with a lone goal in the Etisalat Cup 5th round match played tonight at Zabeel Stadium in Dubai. The losers dropped to 3rd spot with 7 points, one point ahead of Dubai who will face Al Wahda tomorrow at Al Nahyan Stadium and a win will see them in the second place on goal difference to Al Wasl and in this case Al Ain will slip one more step downward to take 4th spot.

The two teams did not demonstrate a strong performance through the entire first half which was completely free of any dangerous attacks and missed opportunities. But in spite of this fact, Al Ain were relatively the better side but they missed their key attackers Yasir Al Gahtani of Saudi Arabia and Gyan Asamoah from Ghana who are currently jointing their National Teams for continental matches in addition to other players namely Ali Al Wihaibi, Faris Juma'a and Abdul Aziz Fayez who are joining the UAE Senior National Team. Al Wasl played with their four foreign players Donda, Olivera, Posh and Porta but also missed goalkeeper Majid Nasir, Rashid Essa, Mohammad Jamal and Rashid Al Suwaidi who are in National duty.

The players of both squads tried their best and made every bit of effort to find the back of the net but all their work and attempts were in vain to end the first half with a goalless draw.

The winners controlled the game after the interval and compensated for their last 5-0 defeat to Dubai. They gave Al Ain's keeper Walid Salim hard time as a result of the brilliant display of both Hassan Ali and Posh on the right and left flanks who led the offensive line and the later switched the ball for Olivera to rest it on his chest before launching a strong shot that went straight into the left hand side scoring the lone goal of the game in the 60th minute.

Radoi and Skoko tried to level the score but they failed due to Al Wasl's solid defense. Their Romanian coach Cosmin fielded in Mohammad Nasir in the last minutes but could not make the difference.