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Powerful, exciting and balanced matches in Etisalat Pro League 4th round

The Etisalat Pro League Championship 2012-2013 is due to recommence after a two-week stoppage period for the UAE Senior National Football team two friendly games played recently against Uzbekistan and Bahrain in preparations for the forthcoming GCC Cup Competition. Some teams have benefited much of the halt period in evaluating their performance, correcting mistakes and errors committed by the players in the league last three rounds, preparing a number of bench players through fielding them in Etisalat Cup Championship games, which took place during the league stoppage time.

By the end of the league third round, Ittihad Kalba Club Administration had decided to sack their Senior Team Croatian coach Dragan to become the first victim in the season and contracting with Tunisian Lotfi Al Benzarti after the team lost all three games and conceded 12 goals without scoring a single goal to stay at the bottom of the standings with no points.

The clubs are back to continue their struggle and  thrilling competition in the League Championship on Saturday, October  20, which will see three matches in the fourth round program which will be completed in the next day with four other games. All teams have stepped up their preparations during the past few days with the participation of all players, including international local players who have joined their clubs immediately after participating in the UAE National Team last friendly match against their Bahraini counterpart along with expatriate players who were also in national duty. All teams are seeking to come up with positive results starting from the next round to better their positions in the table.

The Top and the Bottom match

The fourth round will put the top team Al Nasr with 7 points in face of the bottom team Ittihad Kalba who are endeavoring strongly to collect their first point under the leadership of a new technical body headed by recently – signed Tunisian coach Lotfi Al Benzarti who will be under the first difficult test especially he will face the leaders Al Nasr and his team expect a lot from him in this game.

On the other hand, Al Nasr will fight to snatch full points to retain their leadership and keep their record free of defeats, to remain the only team among the rest of the clubs who have this particularity except Al Wasl team who also have not lost in the first three rounds. This encounter puts Kalba at crossroads as their situation will be highly affected if they lose more points, but their success in hindering the march of the leaders will give their players a big boost in the remaining rounds.

In the second match of the same day, the fourth - placed Al Wahda with six points will face Dubai who are classified in ninth spot with four points. Al Wahda are aspiring to win full points especially they will play at their home ground and in front of their fans. They heavily rely on the return of their international stars, including striker Ismail Matar, who returned on Tuesday from Germany after he underwent a medical examination of a knee injury which he suffered before a long time. The “Al Aweer lions” will not be an easy competitor under the leadership of their duo stars Australian Richard Porta and French Simon Feindouno.

In the last matches of the first day of the fourth round, the home team Ajman who are staying in the penultimate position with only one point, will host their seventh-placed counterparts Al Wasl with 5 points. The hosts are hoping to collect full points, note that they came from behind to beat Al Ahli in Etisalat Cup, taking advantage of the fighting spirit of their player and leading scorer Founeke Sy from Mali, who is considered a headache for the teams’ defense lines, and the active Lebanese Hassan Maatouk, in addition to the Ivorian Boris Kabi . Al Wasl may play this game in the absence of their French coach Bruno Metsu due to health conditions and will be led by his assistant and compatriot Gille Mauricio. Al Wasl depend on the services of their Uruguayan scorer Al Faro and Argentinean Maestro Donda and substitute Faisal Khalil, who appeared in a good shape in the Etisalat Cup last match against Al Jazira.

An exciting disengagement match

The matches will be completed on Sunday, October 21 when tenth – placed Al Dhafra with 4 points will host Al Jazira who are taking fifth position with six points at home in the Western Region in a match expected to be characterized by power , excitement and parity. 

Dibba Al Fujairah, who sit in 12th place with only one point, will also play in the same day when they take on defending champions Al Ain, who are runners-up with one point behind leaders Al Nasr. Al Ain depend on the efforts of their international players including Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan league's top scorer with 7 goals, who returned  recently after taking part with his national team against Malawi in the African qualifiers for Africa Nations Cup 2013 in South Africa, while Dibba Al Fujairah did not appear so far in the required form.

In the penultimate game of this round, Bani Yas will meet Al Shaab in a competitive disengagement match in Al Shamkha Stadium. The two teams have six points each with Al Shaab taking third place on goal difference from Bani Yas who are in sixth spot and this gives the game more excitement.     

Al Ahli and Al Shabab in Dubai derby 

At the end of the Etisalat Pro League fourth round games, Al Ahli and Al Shabab will meet in one of the strongest and exciting matches of this week. The importance of this encounter lies in the situation of the two teams as they remain close to each other. Al Ahli are sitting in 8th position with 4 points, and Al Shabab in 11th place with 3 points. The hosts, Al Ahli, depend on the strength of their professional quartet Luis Jeminez, Grafite, Achille Emana and Yousuf Mohammed, in addition to Ahmed Khalil and Ismail Al Hammadi, while Al Shabab depend on the Brazilian triple Luis Henrico , Edgar Bruno and Ciel  along with Uzbek Haydarov Azizbek. The two teams have met before in the Etisalat Cup opening round and the match ended with a 1-1 draw.

Saturday matches

ــ Al Nasr X Ittihad Kalba  ــMaktoum bin Rashid Stadium  ــ Al Shabab Club, 6:30pm.

ــ Al Wahda X Dubai ــ Al Nahyan Stadium ــ Al Wahda Club, 6:35pm.

ــ Ajman X Al Wasl ــ Rashid bin Saeed Stadium ــ Ajman Club ــ 9:00pm.

Sunday matches

ــ Al Dhafra X Al Jazira ــ Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium ــ Western Region ــ 6:40pm.

ــ Dibba Al Fujairah x Al Ain ــ Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium ــ Al Ain ــ 6:30pm.

ــ Bani Yas x Al Shaab ــ Al Shamkha Stadium ــ 9:00pm

ــ Al Ahli x Al Shabab ــ Rashid Stadium ــ Al Ahli Club ــ 9:00pm.