Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda fired their head coach Karel Jarolim and appointed former player Majid Salem as a caretaker coach on Friday.
The decision was taken less than 24 hours after the team lost to Al Shaab 3-2 in the League Cup competition.
“It was a difficult decision but one we had to take,” chairman Aref Al Awani said. “It has nothing to do with the last defeat against Al Shaab, but is due to several technical reasons.”
Al Wahda’s hopes of a semi-final place had fizzled out after they lost 3-2 to Al Shaab on Thursday. In the same group, Defender Eissa Mohammad and striker Mohammad Sallam scored a brace each for the home team and the visitors respectively.
Thiago Silva scored the third for Al Shaab, who increased their tally to five points from as many matches, while Al Wahda have only three points therefore have no hope of progressing from the group stages.
In other matches on Thursday, Al Jazira came from behind to beat Al Ain 3-1 to renew their hopes of reaching the semi-finals from Group A as they picked up their ninth point from four matches.
The former Al Jazira captain Ebrahim Diaky put Al Ain into the lead but their new skipper Ricardo Oliveira scored a brace in the second half, while Yasir Matar added the third to seal the win for Walter Zenga’s men, who still have two matches to play in the competition.
Al Ain remained on seven points from five matches, their hopes of reaching the semis severely dented.
In Group B, Al Nasr returned victorious from Ras Al Khaimah where they defeated Emirates 2-1, with Eder Luis and Ebrahima Toure scoring for the visitors while Jair scored the home team’s consolation goal.
Al Nasr revived their hopes of a semi-final berth as they now have six points with still two matches remaining in the competition, while Emirates are a point behind.
