Abu Dhabi: Defending Champions Al Ahli started their title defense with a 3-1 win over Al Wahda in their opening encounter of the Arabian Gulf Cup at the Al Nahyan Stadium on Thursday.
Luis Jimenez, Carlos Munoz and Grafite scored a goal apiece for the winner, while the margin for Al Wahda was reduced by Mohammed Al Shehhi. Surprising Al Wahda rested most of their key players for this outing. Just two of their players, both centre backs, Hamdan Al Kamali and Hussain Fadel were on national duty but coach Jose Vitor Peseiro chose to field a second string team. Only five players from the regular lineup took the field. Al Wahda are at the top of the table in the Arabian Gulf league with 13 points from a possible 15 and maybe the coach wanted to give sufficient rest to his key players.
Al Ahli, on the other hand, despite the absence of five of their players on duty with the UAE team, managed to make the most of the services of their foreign recruits Mirel Radoi, Jimenez, Munoz and ace striker Grafite.
The first session largely belonged to Al Ahli and they almost opened their accounts in the seventh minute. Had it not been for the framework to the rescue, Al Ahli’s star striker Grafite would have got his name in the scorer’s book. His fierce header of a corner by Romanian Mirel Radoi found the upright. Four minutes later, Humaid Abdullah’s shot was also denied by the vertical.
The short refreshment break at the half hour mark allowed Al Ahli players the much needed breather on a warm evening and they immediately made it count as soon as the match resumed.
A long ball from the Mohammed Sabeel found the thigh of Al Wahda defender Salem Sultan and landed on the foot of unmarked Jimenez, who wasted no time and blasted the goal with a powerpacked right-footed effort.
Trailing by a goal, Al Wahda showed far more purpose after the change of ends. Their forward line jelled well and their Argentinian recruit Sebastian Tagliabue came close to scoring couple of times. Al Ahli, however, managed to widen the lead in 69th minutes. Munoz brilliantly chested down a long ball from the deep and then came up with a clinical chip over Al Wahda custodian Al Hosaini, who was well out of his line.
The home side, however, remained undeterred and immediately struck back to keep their hopes alive. Tagliabue back heeled a through ball and Al Shehhi, overlapping from behind, reduced the margin to 2-1 with a neat placement. Al Ahli also quickly restored their two-goal cushion after Grafite nodded home a cross from Mohamed Obeid. Three goals came in a span of three minutes but the visitors then held their 2-goal advantage till the final whistle.
