Al Jazira draw closer to Arabian Gulf League leaders

AL WASL 1 AL JAZIRA 2

Al Wasl - Senghor 69'

Al Jazira - Shin 58', Mabkhout 63'

Man of the Match - Ali Mabkhout (Al Jazira)

DUBAI // Al Jazira stretched their unbeaten streak in the Arabian Gulf League to seven matches Saturday night, defeating Al Wasl 2-1 at their Zabeel Stadium.

After a barren first half, Shin Hyung-min put the visitors ahead seven minutes after Edson Puch had missed a penalty at the other end and Ali Mabkhout made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute.

Spending the first 67 minutes of the game on the bench, Andre Senghor brought the hosts back into the game with his 69th minute strike, but he was probably introduced a bit too late.

The win helped Jazira leapfrog Sharjah into third with 29 points, one behind Al Shabab and four adrift of leaders Al Ahli, but coach Walter Zenga refused to talk about his team as possible challengers to the top two.

“I think we don’t have to make this mistake,” he said. “We must just concentrate on our job and continue the way we have been playing. The next game is a really tough match against Al Shabab and I think we cannot look beyond that. We cannot make that mistake.

“The important thing is we are playing as a team and the players on the pitch are doing a great job, playing for each other. This is what we expect from them.”

Unfortunately for Hector Cuper, his Al Wasl players do not seem to be doing that at present, but the Argentine believes they are gradually improving as a team and did not deserve to lose this match.

“All I can say is we probably did not have much luck on our side,” Cuper said. “We played a good game and I cannot have any complaints from my players. We did not deserve to lose, but this is football.

“We are definitely improving as a team, though one point from five league matches might not really prove that. The new players are having a positive impact on the team and the results will start coming soon.”

Perhaps, the arrival of Ricardo Oliveira from Al Jazira could change that. Cuper is confident of landing the former Brazil international before the close of this transfer window and, looking at Wasl’s performance upfront, the club management will definitely speed up their efforts to bring him as soon as possible.

Playing as the lone striker, Mohammed Nasser was ineffective and, with Mariano Donda absent through injury, Emmanuel Culio was missing the support he needed in midfield.

Wasl should have taken the lead in the 51st minute, thanks to referee Hamad Al Shaikh, who pointed to the spot though there was no contact between Puch and Jazira defender Juma Abdullah. The Chilean-Palestinian did a great job in winning the penalty but was poor at executing it – shooting the ball high over the cross bar.

That miss proved decisive as Jazira scored twice in the following 12 minutes to put the game beyond Wasl.

arizvi@thenational.ae

OTHER RESULTS

AJMAN 0 AL AIN 0

It was a story of missed chances as Al Ain dropped points in the Arabian Gulf League yet again, drawing 0-0 at Ajman’s Rashid bin Saeed Stadium. A host of opportunities went begging for the visitors while Ajman also missed several sitters, but in the end earned a hard-fought draw and a point to aid their battle against the drop. Ajman were under siege from the get-go, with Alex Brosque and Asamoah Gyan going close in the opening stages and Ibrahim Diaky seeing his 12th-minute free kick punched away by goalkeeper Jaber Jasim. Ajman occasionally threatened and Boris Kabi thrashed an effort just wide, passing up the chance to steal all three points to move off the bottom of the table.

SHARJAH 0 AL SHABAB 2

Al Shabab - Villanueva 33', 40'

Two first-half goals from Carlos Villanueva helped Al Shabab to victory against Sharjah at the Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium and lifted Shabab to within three of league leaders Al Ahli. The Chilean hit a sweet left-footed goal from the edge of the area after a cutback from Edgar Bruno to beat Mohamed Yousif in the Sharjah goal for his first goal. Seven minutes later and Villanueva again unlocked the usually miserly Sharjah defence, demonstrating some neat interplay with Bruno again on the edge of the box, before dancing between the Sharjah players and sliding a precise shot home.