Sharjah beat defending champions and current league champions Al Wahda 1-0 in their first match in the President's Cup. The all important goal was scored by gifted Sharjah skipper Abdul Aziz Al Anbari in the 31st minute. Anbari sent a curled, clever free kick which beat Hussain Ali, the Wahda custodian, to the left.

In the other matches played yesterday, Al Shabab beat Al Arabi of Um Al Quwain 4-1 in Group A.
Al Shaab defeated Jazira Al Hamrra 4-1 in Group C while Al Wasl drew 1-1 with Al Orouba in group B. Sharjah, who escaped relegation last week after beating Emarat club in a crucial match, deserved to win their first match in Group B at home yesterday. They outplayed Al Wahda in throughout the 90 minutes. Moroccan striker Mohammed Fadhly could have added more goals for Sharjah had he not squandered all the easy scoring chances inside the Wahda penalty area. The defending champions were badly affected by the absence of nine key players, six of them with the UAE national team.

Fahd Masood, Haydar Allo Ali, Abdul Rahim Juma, Bashir Saeed, Yasir Salim, Abdul Salam Juma, and three injured (Ismail Rashid, Abdullah Salim, and the team's top scorer Qatari Mohammed Ennazy) were missing from the Al Wahda roster. Wahda's Dutch coach David Marinus seems unable to do anything at all to make up for his key players absence. In the last ten minutes, he brought in Under–17 players Ali Allo Ali and Faisal Mohammed. That did not have any bearing in the outcome of the match. They showed some talent, but clearly lack the experience.

Sharjah, with Anbari marshalling their moves from the midfield, launched several attacks from the start. Twice they demanded penalty kicks and protested against the referee's decisions. The first was in the 14th minute when Faisal Darwish was brought down in a rough tackle by Wahda's Omer Ali and the second when Fadhly was pulled down by Wahda defender in the 23rd minute.

Anbari was unlucky to see his powerful header hit the upright. Ball bounced to Khalid Doukhy and he crossed to Fadhly but Omer Ali diverted it to the corner. Fadhly header went over the bar following a cross by Abdullah Suhail from the left in the 19th minute. The first attempt of Wahda came from Adel Mattar who shot near the post in the 22nd minute. Jasim Darwish's free kick from outside the penalty area was saved by Hussain Ali conceding a corner after five minutes of resumption.

Wahda attacks in the second half were better organised compared to the first. Mohammed Conti of Siera Leone who led them to the league title recently, was off colours yesterday. He was closely marked by Walid Rashid. Conti failed to provide Wahda strikers Adel Mattar and Saeed Khamis with any passes that could result in scoring chances for Wahda.

Sharjah defenders Jasim Darwish, Mohammed Sultan, and Ahmed Ibrahim kept them at bay most of the time. Sharjah's keeper Johar Ali made an error that could cost his team their win. Johar came out of goalline to clear the ball from Adel Mattar but the latter's shot went near the post.Fadhly missed two good chances. In the 82nd minute, Anbari passed to him with only the Wahda keeper to beat but Fadhly was slow to capitalize. His shot hit the goalkeeper's body. After three minutes Doukhy crossed to him and his shot went sailing over the bar.