News Center

Etisalat Pro League Round 25 Review

The penultimate round of the 2012-2013 Etisalat Pro League season may have failed to settle the second relegation place, taking the battle against the drop right to the wire, but Round 25 still served up plenty of action and drama. On Saturday the attention was turned to the bottom sides of the table as Al Shaab hosted Al Wasl at the Khaled bin Mohamed Stadium knowing that a win would guarantee safety and condemn Dibba Al Fujairah to relegation. Al Shaab, however, failed to capitalise on having their survival in their own hands for the second week running, stuttering to a 0-0 home draw with Al Wasl. Coupled with Dibba Al Fujairah recording a 2-1 away win courtesy of goals by Najem Mohamed and Alex Medeiros at the already-relegated Kalba, the relegation battle will be decided on the final day of the season as just two points separate Al Shaab in 12th and Dibba Al Fujairah in the danger zone in 13th place.

At the other end of the League spectrum, Al Wahda claimed the Abu Dhabi ‘Clasico’ bragging rights with a 2-0 win over champions Al Ain at the Al Nahyan Stadium. Goals from Salem Saleh and Papa Waigo gave Josef Hickersberger two wins out of two since taking temporary charge of the club following the dismissal of Branko Ivankovic, and Al Wahda now sit 7th in the table with 38 points. Al Ain have not won a League match since securing the title with a 3-0 victory over Dubai in mid-April.

Al Shabab showed no signs of letting up in the League despite having an eye on Wednesday’s AFC Champions League second leg and next Tuesday’s President’s Cup Final, putting in a professional display to defeat Dubai 2-0 at the Dubai Stadium in Al Awir. Second-half goals from Luiz Henrique and Ciel meant Al Shabab increased their points tally to 42 in 5th place, whilst Dubai remain 11th with 24. Meanwhile at the Al Maktoum Stadium, Al Nasr’s season continued to trail off as they slumped to a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Al Dhafra. Goals from Bandar Mohammed and Makhete Diop were enough to see that Bruno Cesar’s goal was nothing more than a consolation as Al Nasr stay stuck on 39 points in 5th place, whilst Al Dhafra now have 33 points in 8th.

Al Ahli finished their enforced exile away from the Rashid Stadium with a resounding 3-0 win over Ajman at Al Wasl’s Zabeel Stadium. Ajman, who had lifted the Etisalat Cup on the same pitch just four days earlier, could not repeat their performance as a Luis Jiminez double and Ahmed Khalil goal condemned them to defeat. Al Ahli secured a 2nd-place finish with the win, as they now have 51 points, whilst Ajman remain on 29 in 10th place. Concluding the round, Bani Yas and Al Jazira met at the Bani Yas Stadium on the rescheduled date of Monday due to the home side’s participation in the two-legged Final of the Gulf Clubs Championship. It seems the overseas competition took its toll as Al Jazira came from behind to run out 3-1 winners, with Saleh Hamad opening the scoring for Bani Yas before Abdulla Mousa equalised and Ricardo Oliveira completed the victory with a brace. Bani Yas were reduced to nine men when Thamer Mohammed and Amer Abdulrahman were given their marching orders for picking up two bookings each on a disappointing day for Salem Al Orafi’s men, who slip to 4th on 44 points as Al Jazira leapfrogged them into 3rd with 46.

A total of 17 goals were scored in the 7 games of Round 25 – an average of 2.4 goals per game – but none of the League’s top three scorers were on target. Asamoah Gyan still tops the scoring charts with an impressive haul of 30 goals, followed by Al Ahli’s Grafite on 24 and Ajman’s Boris Kabi with 23 goals this season.