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Trio’s stunning strikes hand Al Jazira 3-1 win over Kalba

Luis Milla finally presided over his first Etisalat Pro League victory since taking charge of Al Jazira, as the Abu Dhabi-based side recorded a 3-1 win over the League’s bottom side Kalba at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Friday evening. Al Jazira’s win came courtesy of three goals of outstanding quality by Ricardo Oliveira, Subait Khater and Ali Mabkhout, increasing the team’s points total to 39 and moving them temporarily up to 4th spot, although the result of Al Nasr’s game tonight could mean they only occupy the position for a matter of hours. Kalba remain rooted to the foot of the table with just 10 points after 22 games, as their hopes of surviving in the relegation battle ebb away with just four League games left to play.

Al Jazira somehow contrived to miss a perfect opportunity to get ahead in the 13th minute, as Kalba’s goalkeeper Khaled Al Saedi was stranded out of position in the box and Ali Mabkhout set up Oliveira with an empty net ahead of him, but the Brazilian’s header hit the post instead of finding the goal. In the 17th minute Kalba almost punished Al Jazira for their squandered chance as Mohamed Malalla forced Ali Khaseif into a save to push his goalbound header over the crossbar. With few clear-cut chances created, it took something special to make the breakthrough as Ricardo Oliveira atoned for his astonishing earlier miss in spectacular style. The Brazilian found himself in space 35 yards from goal and struck a stunning left-footed shot from distance to open the scoring for Al Jazira with his 14th League goal of the campaign in the 39th minute. Just two minutes later the home side doubled their lead, this time with Oliveira turning provider as he cleverly beat the offside trap before cutting the ball back for Subait Khater. The Emirati midfielder angled a right-footed shot which hit the far post before cannoning into the goal, making it 2-0 in the 41st minute, and that is how the scores remained at half time.

Seven minutes after the restart the hosts extended their lead further with yet another sublime strike from long-range, as Al Jazira’s attackers appeared to be attempting to outdo one another with an in-house ‘best goal’ competition. This time it was UAE national team striker Ali Mabkhout who almost burst the net with a fierce drive from 35 yards, rattling the underside of the crossbar as the ball rocketed home in the 52nd minute. The goal to put Al Jazira 3-0 up was Mabkhout’s 11th of the League campaign, but his participation in the game was ended just minutes later after receiving a blow to his face and being replaced by Ibrahim Diaky in the 59th minute. In the 64th minute Ali Khaseif had to be alert as Edward Sadomba whipped a dangerous cross into the box, which Mohamed Malalla almost got his head to but the Al Jazira goalkeeper anticipated well and punched the ball away to safety. In the 68th minute Ali Khaseif again prevented a certain goal, this time stopping Edward Sadomba’s effort with his feet. In the 75th minute Ali Khaseif was called on yet again, working hard to keep a clean sheet as his right-handed stop was required to push Junior’s curling effort over the bar. In the 85th minute Sultan Barghash found himself through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat, but he failed as his effort was easily smothered by Khaled Al Saedi. In the 89th minute Barghash did better with a curving strike but it just bent away from goal at the last second. In the final minute of injury time Kalba were awarded a penalty taken by Amer Deeb, which was subsequently saved by Ali Khaseif, before the referee ordered it to be retaken. Deeb scored at the second attempt to make it 3-1, and the referee immediately blew for full time.