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Etisalat Cup Competition stops after the 4th round

The 12 professional teams have completed their preparations successfully for the 4th round of the Etisalat Cup which will be played on Friday and Saturday October 7th and 8th. The competition will come to a hall after this round to pave the way for the Etisalat Pro-League Competition which is due to start on 15th of this month. Most of the teams will miss the efforts of some of their key players who are currently in national duty with the UAE Senior Football Team who are to take on their South Korean counterpart next Tuesday October 11th in the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This round will kick off tomorrow, Friday October 7th and be concluded the following day with three matches scheduled for each day.

The hosts team Al Nasr and their rivals Ajman will cut the ribbon of this round when they meet on Al Maktoum Stadium on Friday at 6:45pm and their group partners Sharjah and Al Shabab will tackle it out on the former's pitch, while Al Ain and Al Jazira from Group "A" are set to meet on Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum at 9pm in the concluding match of the first day.

This week's matches will be concluded on Saturday with three games as Dubai are to host their city rivals Al Wasl, Al Wahda play against Emirates at Al Nahyan Stadium and Al Ahli will face Bani Yas at home.

Ajman are now staying on top of  Group "B" with a balance of 7 points, one point ahead of second-placed Al Shabab following their 3-2 win over Sharjah in the previous round. They are planning to snatch more three points to keep their leadership of the group, but the hosts are also hoping to come out with a win to level the balance of points with their opponents if it happens that Al Shabab lose to Sharjah or both are tied to a draw. Al Nasr are taking 4th spot with 4 points while Sharjah are two points behind taking 5th position with a balance of only two points.

Al Nasr will play without their midfielder Ali Abbas who was selected recently to join the UAE Senior Team while Ajman will face the hosts with full team. Sharjah will also meet the visiting squad Al Shabab with all their key players taking part in this game which will be held on Sharjah Stadium tomorrow evening at 6:45p.

Al Ain are set to play a tough match against their traditional rivals Al Jazira tomorrow, Friday at 9pm on Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.  They will play without their first choice striker Asamoah Gyan from Ghana who joined his National Team two days ago to take part in the decisive encounter against Sudan scheduled on Saturday October 8th in Khartoum in the last stage for 2012 African Nations Championship. They will also miss the Saudi star Yasir Al Gahtani who will help his National Team in their next game in the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, in addition to Ali Al Wihaibi and Faris Juma'a who are in national duty. Al Jazira are also facing the same problems as they have six players in national duty along with Ibrahima Diaky who was shown the red card in his team's last match against Dubai.

Al Jazira are leading Group "A" with 9 points following three wins against Al Wasl, Al Wahda and Dubai while Al Ain have only 4 points that put them in 4th spot after a loss to Al Wahda, a win over Dubai and a draw with Emirates.