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Etisalat Pro League first round kicks off with Strong matches

The Etisalat Pro League first round 2012- 2013 is due to launch on Sunday September 23 with four matches and the remaining three games will be concluded the following day. The League has entered this season an important turning point after the increase of the number of clubs to 14 following the qualification of Al Dhafra and Al Shaab through the Quartet tournament, while both Sharjah and Emirates were relegated to the first division "A".

Al Wasl X Al Wahda

Dubai – based Al Wasl will host their rivals Al Wahda in Zabeel on Sunday, September 23 at 05:30 pm in one of the strongest and high technical standard encounters. The two teams will start the game with high morals after emerging winners in the first round of the Etisalat Cup where Al Wasl beat Kalba, while Al Wahda were able to achieve a win with three straight goals over Al Nasr. Frenchman Bruno Metsu coach of Al Wasl, depends on a group of foreign and local players who demonstrated good performance in Etisalat Cup match including Alfaro, Donda, Lucas Neill and Egyptian Mahmoud Shekabala along with Isa Ali, Darweesh Ahmed, Maher Jassim and Fahad Hadeed and other colleagues. Al Wahda’s coach depends on local players in the first place, including spearhead Saeed Al Katheri, who succeeded in scoring two goals against Al Nasr.

Al Dhafra X Ajman

Al Dhafra, the newly promoted team to the Pro League, will take on Ajman at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium in the Western Region at 05:40 pm on next Sunday.  The hosts have been prepared in full team to maintain their first win after losing1-2 to Bani Yas in the Etisalat Cup first round match, note that the team’s coach preferred not to field in his  key players in the last match fearing of  getting fatigue. 

 Ajman seem psychologically to be the better side due to the  6-1 big win over Dibba Al Fujairah in Etisalat Cup. They rely on the services of their French striker Founeke who scored a Super hat-trick against Dibba, in addition to Al Jazira’s former defender Saleh Bashir.

Dubai X Diba Al Fujairah

Dubai team are to host Diba Al Fujairah on Sunday this week, at 8:15pm at Al Aweer Stadium relying on the services of their players Simon Fondono and Richard Porta. They will try to continue the outcome of their first positive result which they have achieved in Etisalat Cup after winning over Al Shaab, while Diba Al Fujairah, who are facing a new test, will try to change the image of their first match which they lost to Ajman with a big score. 

Al Ain X Al Ahli

Al Ain will play their first league game at home when they face their opponents Al Ahli at Tahnoon Bin Mohammad Stadium in one of the top league first week match which will take place on 23 September, where Al Ain will try to benefit from the comeback of some of their injured players to the lineup, including Ismail Ahmed, Hilal Saeed and Ali Al Wihaibi while they will miss Abdul Aziz Fayez due to cruciate ligament injury in the last super game against Al Jazira. Al Ain will play the encounter with high morals after beating Al Jazira to achieve the Etisalat Super Cup in the opening game of the 2012-2013 season. Al Ahli have retained their four foreign players and the match is of great importance to them because it comes at the beginning of the league competition and they play away on their rivals playground.

Ittihad Kalba X Al Shaab

The league first round will be concluded on Monday, September 24 with three matches where the two newly qualified teams to the Pro League Ittihad Kalba and Al Shaab will play at the formers’ stadium at 05:25 pm. The match is expected to witness excitement in the light of the two teams’ losses in the Etisalat Cup first round, and both endeavor to come up with an honorable appearance, and change the image of their previous two matches.

Al Shabab X Bani Yas

Al Shabab will meet their rivals Bani Tas at home at Khartoum Bin Rashid Stadium; kick off at 5:30pm. The hosts will begin the game with the spirit of competing for the title after finishing in the third position last season. The visitors have suffered so much in the last season before they succeeded to avoid relegation in the last rounds, but it seems that the situation will be completely different this season through the on – loan - basis deals that they signed and their contract with Mohammad Zidane, who demonstrated an impressive display during their Etisalat Cup match against Al Dhafra. Bani Yas’s Senegalese striker Andre Sengahoor was the player who usually scores the most goals of his side, and Al Shabab’s Brazilian  striker Ciel is expected to be the most dangerous player as he managed to score the equalizer against Al Ahli in the first game to save his team from their first loss in this season.

Al Jazira X Al Nasr

The first round will be concluded on Monday, September 24 with a strong game between last season second and fourth- placed teams Al Jazira and Al Nasr which will be held at one of the most UAE beautiful stadium, Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Jazira Club in Abu Dhabi at 8:15pm. Despite the hosts’ Super Cup loss, but the quality of players like Oliveira, Diaky, Delgado and goalkeeper Ali Khusaif are able to change the outcome of any game. 

On the other hand, it is known that Al Nasr Italian coach Zenga assured the players during the last training session his inconvenience of the loss they received from Al Wahda with three straight goals, and therefore he will  try to change the image of the team in the Etisalat Cup first round match relying on some local names like Habib Al Fardan and goalkeeper Abdullah Mousa and other players.