Dubai: YLS-1, Al Habtoor, Fohood Jumeirah and Al Joker all eased into the futsal semi-finals at the Fourth Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament.

In Sunday’s quarter-finals, YLS-1 and Fohood Jumeirah secured identical 6-3 wins against RBH and Al Theyaba respectively, while Al Habtoor stunned tournament favourites Fohood Zabeel 3-2 and Al Joker went through extra-time for a 5-4 win against debutants Al Wasl.

The match of the night was the last one involving Al Joker and Al Wasl. Al Joker led 2-0 at half-time with both goals coming from Marcenio Ribeiro Da Silva in the fifth and 19th minutes. Abdul Raouf Al Marzouqi further boosted the lead three minutes into the second half when he prodded home a pass from Omar Al Saleh.

But Al Wasl responded strongly scoring three goals in as many minutes midway through the period with Javier Adolfo Salas getting a brace and Tariq Aman adding his name to the scoresheet to be tied 3-3.

However, Al Joker held their nerves and took the lead again in the 13th minute through Edelson Robson Dos Santos (Robinho) only to see Al Wasl come right back through Aman’s second goal of the night.

Pushed into five minutes of extra-time, Al Joker snatched the lead in the very first minute as Marcenio found a gap in the Al Wasl defence. Al Joker then fell back defending valiantly to keep their narrow one-goal lead and book their place in the semi-final against Fohood Jumeirah.

The shocking result of the night was star-studded Fohood Zabeel’s narrow 2-3 loss to Al Habtoor in an earlier match. Led by former world player of the year Ricardo Filipe Da Silva (Ricardinho) and fellow Portuguese Fernando Alberto Cardinal, much was expected from Fohood Zabeel following their failure at the quarter-final stages last year too.

The turning point of the encounter came with the two teams tied 2-2 and less than two minutes remaining for the final whistle. Defender Sabri Jameel went in for a ruthless tackle bringing down Dovenir Domingues Da Paiva. The Brazilian then coolly converted the resultant penalty and then fell deep into defending their slender lead for the next minute and a half for a famous win.

“We were never expecting an easy match against one of the tournament favourites. It is always a special feeling to win against a great team. But for now we need to rest adequately and get ready for the semi-final,” Da Paiva told Gulf News.

“We had thought out our strategy too well going into the match. It’s never easy to defend deep into your own half and then catch them on the quick counter. But I think we did well tonight,” he added.

Results

Futsal Quarter-finals

YLS-1 beat RBH 4-2

Al Habtoor beat Fohood Zabeel 3-2

Fohood Jumeirah beat Al Theyaba 6-3

Al Joker beat Al Wasl 5-4 (extra-time)

Semi-final line-up:

YLS-1 v Al Habtoor; Fohood Jumeirah v Al Joker