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Action from the match between
Al Wasl and Al Ahli. ©Gulf News
Al Wasl 2 Al Ahli 2
Al Shaab 0 Dubai 1
Gulf News - Al Ahli dropped to the third
place in the league table after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Al Wasl at
the latter's stadium in Zaabil in a tough match full of action, excitement
and enthusiasm.
Al Wasl led 2-1 and were on their way to score first win, until the last
two minutes when Al Ahli defender Mohammed Qassim hit the equaliser and
saved the day for Al Ahli.
Al Ahli played with ten men after the referee showed the red card to
defender Abdullah Shah in the 53rd minute following a harsh tackle on Al
Wasl wingback Munzir Ali.
Al Wasl failed to score their first win in four league matches. They have
two points from two draws. Al Ahli with eight points are in the third
place. They were sharing the top spot with Al Ain last week.
Despite squandering the win in the last minutes, Al Wasl under new coach
UAE Khalifa Mubarak showed excellent performance which satisfied their
supporters who were not happy with the result.
They dominated the match from the word go. Good defending by Abdullah Issa,
Mohammed Obaid and Munzir ensured that Al Ahli striker Ali Karimi did not
get any chance to threaten their goalkeeper.
Tariq Hasan lost a good chance to open the score for Al Wasl in the ninth
minute when Kavianpour crossed from the left.
Tariq was confounded infront of the goal and Al Ahli defence cleared it
away. After four minutes Tariq Darwish header went just near the Al Ahli
upright. Al Ahli responded with Laffwi header which went sailing over the
bar from close range in 17 minute.
The Wasl midfielders Ali Issa, Kavianpour, Khalid Darwish and Tariq
Darwish did a very good job by taking control of the most important area
in the field. They denied Al Ahli midfielders room to build attacks or
breaking through.
However Al Wasl keeper Ahmed Salim created a serious mistake in the 35th
minute when Ali Karimi tried to seize the ball from him following a short
pass by Salim. But the Al Wasl custodian grabbed it again before Karimi.
Despite the Al Wasl dominance, Al Ahli scored against the run of play when
Ali Karimi sent a high ball to Ahmed Shah whose header beat Ahmed Salim to
his right six minutes before the break. Al Wasl attacked and a Tariq
Darwish cracker was tipped to the corner by Al Ahli keeper Ali Saeed.
After just 70 seconds of resumption, Kavianpour leveled for Al Wasl from
the spot when Khalid Shah Dad of Al Ahli pushed Tariq inside the box.
The Iranian midfielder made no mistake in converting the spot kick. Al
Ahli defence were affected by the sending off of Abdullah Shah.
The Al Ahli coach Srecko took out Laffwi and brought in Hamada to play
right wingback and Jasim Akbar to play central defender in place of
Abdullah Shah.
Al Ahli's Hasan Ibrahim lost a good chance when he was put through with
only the Al Wasl keeper to beat. But his shot went straight to Salim's
hands.
Farhad Majiedi scored Al Wasl's second goal in the 71st minute. Majiedi
benefited from Al Ahli keeper's error when he failed to catch Khalid
Darwish high cross.
Majiedi jumped to head the ball but found it on the ground infront of him.
He, without hesitation, shot into the empty net.
Al Ahli attacked to level and in the process Ali Karimi was fouled two
times inside the penalty area. In the first he was brought down by Al Wasl
custodian and in the second a rough tackle by Al Wasl defender.
On the first occasion, the referee said no penalty kick despite Karimi's
protest where he got a yellow card.
On the second occasion, he awarded a foulkick outside the box. The
equaliser came in the 88th minute from the foul kick. Hasan Abbas's header
beat Al Wasl defenders who thought Qassim was offside. Qassim advanced and
placed the ball to the left of a hapless Ahmed Salim.
Dubai club jumped to the second place in the league standing after they
defeated Al Shaab 1-0 in the match held at Khalid bin Mohammed stadium in
Sharjah.
Chilean striker Cristian Montecinos scored the all important goal in the
75th minute. Dubai club have now nine points in the second place and Al
Shaab dropped to seventh with five points. |
