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Two victories and a draw in the Etisalat Cup opening matches

The first round of the Etisalat Cup competition, which launched on the evening of Saturday, October 9, resulted in two squads emerging as winners, namely Al Ain and Bani Yas from group A. there was also a draw between Al Ahli and Kalb from group B. Both visiting teams, Al Ain and Bani Yas started the matches by collecting three valuable points after beating hosts Al Wahda and Al Nasr 2 - 0 and 2 - 1 respectively.

Al Ain and home squad, Al Wahda, played their match without the services of some key players due to injury and the participation with the first, Olympic and U19 national teams in friendly and official matches. Both coaches, Abdul Hameed of Al Al Ain and Brazilian Titi of Al Wahda, were compelled to field young new players, especially in the home team's line-up. In spite of the good number of opportunities that came the way of the strikers of the two teams, they failed to convert them, thus finishing the first session with a goalless draw.

The second half saw both teams exerting more efforts while trying to score the first goal and take the lead. Al Ain's efforts were awarded only seven minutes after the break when Argentinian Sand slammed the ball home with a low shot from inside the box. This goal forced both teams to better their performance, as Al Ain worked hard to score the second goal, whereas the losers tried their best to reduce the deficit and come back into the match. The winners were successful in their endeavors to add the second goal just one minute into the injury time with the help of substitute Badar Mohammed. This ended the game with a score of 2 - 0.

In the second match of the day, Bani Yas maintained a 2 - 1 win over hosts Al Nasr. All three goals were scored before the break. Andre Sangahoor put his side into the lead only four minutes into the second half. This was followed by Ismail Bangoura's score to make it 1 - 1 in the 65th minute, but Sangahoor was quick net the winneing goal one minute before the end of the game.

Al Ahli failed for the second time this season to beat hosts Kalba, after being held to a 1 - 1 draw. Kalba also forced Al Ahli into a 2 - 2 draw in their Etisalat Pro-League opener. Brazilian Andre Luciano Da Silva was the first to score in the 19th minute, giving visitors Al Ahli an early lead, but Bahraini Abdullah Baba netted the equaliser for Kalba in the 36th minute,