Abu Dhabi: City rivals Al Ain will meet Al Wahda tonight in the battle for the etisalat Cup.
It should be the usual feast of entertaining football from the traditional rivals, but tonight's encounter at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium will have a touch of extra spice as the winner will be the first team to engrave their name on the new cup.
For Al Wahda the cup represents their only chance of silverware this season.
But Al Ain are still in contention for the UAE Football League (UFL) title and will meet Al Shabab in the President's Cup final on April 13.
Both teams have a number of highly talented players, local and foreign, who are match winners, and the return of international stars will add icing to the cake.
Al Wahda could feature Esmail Mattar and Mohammad Al Shehhi, who both scored brilliant goals for their country on Wednesday against Saudi Arabia. Abdul Rahim Juma, Hayder Allo Ali, Hamadan Al Kamali and Mahmoud Khamis could also feature.
Meanwhile, Al Ain will be able to call on the services of Faris Juma, Mohammad Fayez, Muhannad Al Enazy, Saif Mohammad and Abdullah Malulla.
Al Ain coach Winfried Schaefer and his opposite number Josef Hickersberger of Al Wahda will have to make their judgement on the fitness of these players, who only joined their teams last night after competing in the UAE's recent World Cup qualifiers.
Al Ain could be without the services of Ali Al Waheebi, Jorge Valdivia and Esmail Ahmad who are all struggling with injury, while Singahor is currently in Iran on national duty for Senegal.
However, Schaefer does have the option of a number of young stars including Hazza Salim, Musallam Fayez, Fawzi Fayez and their new sensation Omar Abdul Rahman, who have been featuring in the team in the absence of the international players. Meanwhile, Al Wahda's fans will no doubt be happy with the performances of their strikers Mattar and Al Shehhi in Saudi Arabia. Mattar, in particular, was impressive, scoring and exceptional goal and showing his dazzling ball control against one of the region's top teams.
At the same time, Fahad Masaood and Abdullah Al Noobi have fully recovered from their injuries and are ready to take part in the match, but Basheer Saeed and Saeed Al Kathiri will not play.
Meanwhile, the team's Moroccan defender Amin Erbati has joined the squad after playing for his country earlier in the week in the African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.
Al Wahda have bought 8,000 tickets to distribute free for their fans tonight. The kick-off will be at 7.30pm.
