Dubai: Al Taher and Al Wasl secured contrasting results to book their places in the futsal semi-finals at the Fifth Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament being held at the NAS Sports Complex.
Al Taher continued their streak as hot title favourites with a 9-3 demolition of Quattro Sports Centre, while Al Wasl had to dig in deep for a 5-4 win over Zajel to book their meeting in the semi-final. The second semi-final will be played between The Storm and The Emperor following emphatic quarter-final wins on Monday.
Serving the Al Taher cause was a couple of hat-tricks in quick time from Brazilian striker Deives Moraes and UAE player Ahmad Abdullah Mohammad Jashak, while Fernando Nascimento Cosme was on target twice as Al Taher took their scoring prowess to 29 goals in three matches and remain the only unbeaten side in this tournament so far.
Cosme continued at the top of the individual scorers’ list when he opened the account for Al Taher in the sixth minute, while Moraes doubled up in the seventh and eleventh minutes to go in with a 3-0 cushion at half-time.
In the second half, Jashak made it 4-0 and Moraes completed his hat-trick immediately after that. Cosme got his second — and ninth in this competition — and a lovely free kick from Mohammad Obaid Ali made it 7-0 with 13 minutes of play remaining. Al Taher then relaxed a bit while giving the reserves bench a chance to have a run.
Quattro Sports Centre made full use of this while scoring three goals with Mohammad Ali Saleh netting a brace and Zaid Al Morabiti getting one to make it 7-3. But hard-working Jashak was well rewarded with his second and third goals as Al Taher completed a total rout of Quattro.
“We wanted a quick and aggressive start to the match to score as many goals as possible so that we could relax and play some constructive football in the second period,” top-scorer Moraes explained.
“We were never in doubt that we are among the title favourites. But we had to also ensure we do not get too tired for a tough semi-final against Al Wasl,” he added.
In the other quarter-final of the night, Al Wasl managed a 5-4 win against fancied Zajel. Both teams were evenly matched with Taynan Da Silva Rego putting Al Wasl ahead only to see Andre Thiago Grahl bringing the two back on level terms. Ari Santos gave Al Wasl the edge once again and Williams Oliveira Do made it 2-2. Paulo Roberto Castanhassi poked one from close as Al Wasl broke off for half-time with a 3-2 lead.
Castanhassi made it 4-2 and then Ahmad Khalil Al Hossani took it further away for 5-2. But Grahl turned in his second with five minutes remaining and Hamad Al Shamsi added a fourth. But Zajel ran out of time as Al Wasl celebrated a narrow escape to make the semi-finals against Al Taher.
Results:
Futsal quarter-finals:
Al Taher v Quattro Sports Centre 9-3; Al Wasl v Zajel 5-4.
