Dubai: Shabab Al Ahli Dubai and Al Wasl played out an insipid goalless draw in their first leg semi-final of the Arabian Gulf Cup late on Friday.
With Al Wahda already putting one foot in the final following their 4-2 thrashing of Dibba earlier on Friday, the two city rivals will have all to play for in the return leg to be played on March 22.
The first half was far from inspiring with both teams keen on possession rather than attacking each other’s goals. The result was a dearth of goal-bound action from both teams. No doubt, the home team enjoyed a major part of the possession, but that hardly counted as there was not a single move that could have been counted as a threat on either goal.
Things however changed in the second half with Shabab Al Ahli Dubai opening up the match in search of breaking the deadlock. There were three clear occasions, and all three when the home team could have scored. The first was in the 56th minute when Saeed Jassem darted in to head and Yousuf Al Zaabi was equally alert to bring off a reflex save.
Two minutes later, Erceg Ante was put through in the clear but the 28-year-old Croatian midfielder was wasteful with no one but the Al Wasl goalkeeper at his mercy. Ante was once again the culprit in the 72nd minute when he was put through by Abdul Aziz Al Haikal, but Ali Hassan Saleh came up with a timely last-ditch tackle to deny the home side any reason to cheer.
The dominance from Shabab Al Ahli Dubai was near total approaching the final few minutes, but it was the otherwise reliable Fabio de Lima coming closest to scoring in the 82nd minute when he was one on one with Majid Nasser. But the Brazilian only managed to shoot into the advancing goalkeeper. The best chance of the match came in the 87th when a swerving cross from Haikal saw Ante slipping in only for Al Zaabi at full stretch to once again deny the former champions full points heading into the return leg.
RESULT
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai x Al Wasl 0-0
