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Al Wasl back to winning ways as Milla’s Al Jazira lose 3-2 at home

Al Wasl twice came from behind to defeat Al Jazira 3-2 on Friday evening in Round 20 of the Etisalat Pro League at the Mohammad bin Zayed Stadium. The home loss means Spanish boss Luis Milla is still yet to oversee a victory in the League with Al Jazira, whilst Al Wasl’s interim boss Eid Baroot recorded his second win since taking stewardship in Round 17. The result sees Al Wasl increase their points tally to 23, but Al Jazira remain stuck on 35 as they slip further off the pace in the title race.

In a breathless first half, it was the home side who took the lead as early as the 3rd minute. Fernandinho cut in on the right to deliver a left-footed ball into the box, which the Argentinian attacker Matias Delgado deftly toe-poked home to put Al Jazira 1-0 up. Al Wasl had two great chances to get back on level terms just two minutes later, as Emiliano Alfaro put his free header straight into the arms of Ali Khaseif, and just seconds after his first effort Alfaro latched onto a wayward pass at the back from Al Jazira but saw his shot parried by their goalkeeper. At the other end of the pitch once more, Ricardo Oliveira broke through Al Wasl’s defense in the 8th minute but his chip was diverted away from goal by the advancing Ahmed Mahmoud in the visitors’ goal. Chances continued to flow for both sides, with Oliveira again going close for Al Jazira and Fahad Hadeed seeing his shot go wide for Al Wasl. With both sides displaying shaky defenses and fast-paced attacks, it was clear there were more goals to come.

In the 20th minute Al Wasl’s positive play exposed Al Jazira’s defensive frailties as Emiliano Alfaro and Saoud Saeed streamed forward unopposed with the home side’s back line high up the pitch, but the attack came to nothing. Just a minute later, though, the visitors were rewarded with an equalising goal to make it 1-1 as Khalifa Abdulla curled a shot in at the far post from the left-hand side of the area. Abdulla’s goal was scored almost in slow motion, as the Al Jazira players stood watching in their area. Fifteen minutes later Al Jazira suffered a further blow as Khamis Esmail was forced off the pitch with an injury, but they were back in the lead before even having a chance to send on a replacement for the UAE national team midfielder. A fine individual run from Fernandinho involved a quick one-two with fellow countryman Oliveira as the tricky striker evaded four Al Wasl players on the way to slotting his finish coolly through the legs of Ahmed Mahmoud to make it 2-1 in the 37th minute. Immediately after getting back in front, Luis Milla was able to bring on Sultan Barghash to replace the departed Khamis Esmail, and a minute later Al Wasl had to withdraw their goalscorer Khalifa Abdulla, also due to injury, bringing on Maher Jassim in his place. The remainder of the opening forty-five saw  shots go close for both sides from Abdulla Mousa and Achille Emana, but the teams headed into the break with a 2-1 scoreline.

The second half got off to an even faster start than the first as Al Wasl equalised within a minute of resuming play. Achille Emana created and scored the goal, dispossessing Matias Delgado in midfield before passing to Jussie Ferreira, who made strides towards the area and squared the ball for Emana to finish off the move with a powerful strike to level the scores at 2-2 in the 46th minute. Following his goal scoring heroics of the past week, in which he has scored winners for the UAE and Al Jazira in the space of seven days, striker Ali Mabkhout was brought on for Al Jazira in place of Ricardo Oliveira in the 59th minute as Luis Milla’s side went in search of all three points. In the 78th minute the substitute Mabkhout timed his run perfectly to go clean through on goal but Ahmed Mahmoud made a good decision to come out early and collect, and just one minute later the end-to-end action continued as Al Jazira defender Ali Al Ameri brought down Jussie Ferreira in the area to concede a penalty. Uruguayan striker Emiliano Alfaro stepped up to convert the spot kick in the 80th minute to give Al Wasl a 3-2 lead away from home, and it was the visitors who looked more likely to score again in the final ten minutes as they streamed forward at every opportunity, but the 3-2 scoreline at the end of the ninety minutes was enough to see Al Wasl head back to Dubai with all three points.