Abu Dhabi: Despite the absence of several key players on national duty, defending champions Al Ahli started their Arabian Gulf Cup title defence with an authoritative 3-1 win over Al Wahda at Al Nahyan Stadium on Thursday.
Luis Jimenez, Carlos Munoz and Grafite scored a goal apiece for the Dubai side, with Mohammad Al Shehi on target for Al Wahda.
Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroiu was pleased with his team’s efforts and added that the match provided him with the opportunity to experiment.
“There were a few grey areas for improvement in the league games and we managed to improve on that today. We won with a lot of absentees and that’s a good sign,” Olaroiu said.
“It was good to provide an opportunity to some of the players on the bench.
“We controlled the game well in the first half, but in the second half we allowed them to come back for a short period. We then regained control in the last quarter.”
Al Wahda rested most of their key players despite having just two — centre-backs Hamdan Al Kamali and Hussain Fadel — on national duty, with coach Jose Vitor Peseiro opting to field a largely second-string team. Only five players from the regular line-up 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 the coach wanted to give sufficient rest to his key players.
Al Ahli, who dominated the first half, got the breakthrough after half an hour, when a long ball from Mohammad Sabeel found the thigh of Al Wahda defender Salem Sultan and fell to the unmarked Jimenez, who blasted home a power-packed right-footed effort.
The lead was widened after half-time by Munoz, who brilliantly chested down a ball from deep and produced a clinical chip over keeper Ali Mohammad Al Hosani, who was caught well off his line.
Al Wahda reduced the margin when Sebastian Tagliabue’s back-heeled through ball allowed the overlapping Al Shehi to shoot home.
Grafite nodded home a cross from Mohammad Obeid to quickly restore Al Ahli’s two-goal lead.
Coach Peseiro summed up his team’s performance as below par and felt Al Ahli were the superior side.
“Al Ain were simply better than us because they won 3-1. I’m not happy with the team’s performance but this is football. I believe at looking on one match at a time and we will now have to focus on the next match,” the Portuguese said.
