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The Etisalat Pro-League Competition restarts tomorrow with tough matches

 

After a three-week break due to the participation of Al Jazira, Al Ain and Al Wahda in the 2011 AFC Champions League along with Al Dhafra who took part in the GCC Clubs Championship, the Etisalat Pro-League Round 18 is due to restart tomorrow May 15 and continue the following day with three games being played each night. This round is expected to witness severe and hard struggle with Al Jazira trying to assure themselves champions of the competition, hoping to come out with three valuable points when they travel to Dubai to battle it out against Al Wasl in the last encounter of this week on Monday. Some of the other teams still have a chance to collect more points in the remaining matches so as to end their march taking advanced positions that would help them to take part in 2012 AFC Champions League, while others are trying hard to avoid relegation to first division.

Kalba, who are sitting second from bottom of the table with 14 points, will host tomorrow Al Shabab at Kalba Stadium at 6:15pm. Al Shabab, champions of the Etisalat Cup and qualifiers for the quarterfinals of the GCC Clubs Championship, are keen to continue their successful march. They drew 1-1 with Sharjah in Round 17 and raised their tally to 28 points, three behind second-placed Bani Yas. Kalba lost to Al Wasl 2-3 in the last round, a result which made their situation a little bit difficult.

In the second game of the day Abu Dhabi-based Al Wahda will host Sharjah at Al Nahyan Stadium, kick off at 6:15pm. Both teams will miss a number of their key players for different reasons, but at the same time the hosts will have some of their probables joining their lineup. Al Wahda's Brazilian player Fernando Bayano will not take part against the visitors due to injury, but they will have back Ismail Matar and Hayder Alo Ali who are planning to leave for Germany in the coming few days to undergo surgical operations. The visiting team, Sharjah will miss the efforts of five players Fayez Juma'a for kidney pain, Essam Darweesh, Khamis Ahmad, Brazilian Robinho and Taleb Ali due to injury.  Al Wahda are in 5th position with 23 points, the same balance collected by the visiting squad who are in 6th spot.

Al Ahli will host their city rivals Al Nasr in the concluding match of Round 18 first day at Rashid Stadium at 9pm. The hosts have lost to Al Ain recently in their Round 16 postponed match with a 4-0 result and were also beaten by Al Nasr in their home match in the first round with the same margin. Al Nasr's performance dropped down in the last ties as they lost 9 points in four successive games. They will miss in tomorrow's game Mohammad Ali Omar and Khalid Darweesh due to injury, Salim Khamis according to a term in his contract disallowing him to play against his ex-team Al Ahli along with Brazilian Leo Lemma who underwent recently an eye operation. Both Al Nasr and Al Ahli have the same balance of points after collecting 22 points each but Al Nasr are ahead of Al Ahli taking 7th spot.

Round 18 matches will be concluded on Monday May 16 with Bani Yas hosting Dubai, Al Ain travelling to the Western Region to face lowly Al Dhafra and Al Wasl facing leaders Al Jazira at their home ground in Zabeel. Bani Yas have 31 points in the second place and they hope Al Wasl would do them a favor tomorrow to hinder leaders Al Jazira. Dubai have 20 points that see them in 9th position.

Al Dhafra will meet their rivals Al Ain in a crucial match at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium at 6:20pm. Both teams are in the relegation zone with Al Ain taking 10th place with 18 points while the hosts are staying at the bottom of the ladder with 12 points. Al Dhafra have collected a single point in all their second round games, drawing goalless with Al Ahli in the 12th Round and losing all other games afterwards. They will have back their Nigerian Abbas Moya and Ahmad Ibrahim while Al Ain will miss their two defenders Musalam Fayez due to suspension and Faris Juma'a who underwent recently a laparoscopic surgery to remove the appendix.

Al Wasl and Al Jazira are set to play the last match of the day at the former's Stadium at 9pm. The hosts will play without their Omani player Mohammad Al Shaba and Ali Mahmoud due to suspension along with injured Waheed Ismail while Brazilian coach Abel Braga of Al Jazira will field full team.