Dubai: Last season’s runners-up Al Jazira lost 2-1 at home to Al Wasl in their Arabian Gulf League opener on Friday, while defending champions Al Ain won 3-1 at home to Al Dhafra.
Thiago Neves cancelled out Hugo Viana’s early opener before the interval despite Al Jazira going a man down with Musallam Fayez’s sending off. But Yassir Salem struck before the hour to take three points.
Elsewhere, Lee Myung-joo and Saeed Al Kathiri scored two within two minutes of each other before the half-hour to give Al Ain an early advantage. Rashid Eisa then added a third towards the end before Hamad Al Ahbabi’s late consolation.
Last season’s Arabian Gulf League Cup and President’s Cup winners Al Nasr also opened with a victory, coming back from 1-0 down to beat Emirates Club 2-1 at home.
Chilean-Palestinian midfielder Luis Jimenez tapped in a rebound to cancel out Haider Ali’s first half opener on the hour, and then volleyed in a corner with minutes to spare.
Al Nasr coach Ivan Jovanovic praised Jimenez’s contribution as well as new signing Jires Kembo Ekoko, who came off the bench to assist the equaliser with his first touch, a long shot, which was fumbled by the keeper and followed up by Jimenez.
“Luis is a player who has quality to come from the back line of midfield and score and this is what he did. For sure it was very pleasant for him but more pleasant for the team as a whole,” said Jovanovic.
“For Kembo it was very difficult for him as he has only trained twice with the team [since joining from Al Ain this week]. He’s not at the performance level he should be, but we will work to fast track his full integration with substitutions like this.
“It was a difficult start. We lost balance after their opener on the counter attack and knew in the second half Emirates would sit deep and limit space at the back. It was difficult to create chances but we didn’t panic and controlled the pace to finally score two goals that gave us the victory. Of course, we could have played better but opening with a win is the most important thing.”
Emirates coach Paulo Comelli said despite the defeat his team did well considering they were without injured Brett Holman and suspended Essam Erraki.
“One error in positioning at the corner cost us the game but we didn’t deserve to lose,” said Comelli. “We also had two professionals out and Wilmar Jordan was late to join the team. With that in mind, when we get those two players back, I believe on the evidence of this game we’ll have a good season.”
Thursday’s games saw Al Wahda thrash newly-promoted Dibba Fujairah 4-0 away from home. A second half brace from Sebastian Tagliabue, with a goal either side of Bakary Kone’s sending of for Dibba, set the tempo. Mohammad Al Akbari and Bader Al Harthy added another two late on.
Bani Yas also beat Al Shaab 2-0 away thanks to goals either half from Joaquin Larrivey and Ishak Belfodil.
And on Wednesday Al Ahli beat Fujairah 8-1 at home. An Esmail Al Hammadi brace either side of Ahmad Khalil’s effort saw Al Ahli lead 3-0 at the break. Everton Ribeiro then made it four before a Rodrigo Lima brace followed by Al Hammadi’s third. Fujairah’s Hassan Mattouk netted a consolation before Ribeiro added his second from the spot.
