Al Ain: Defending champions Al Ain began their Arabian Gulf League title defence with an authoritative 3-1 win over Al Dhafra in their opening fixture at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Friday.
Lee Myung-joo and Saeed Al Kathiri scored a goal apiece in the first half and substitute Rashid Eisa completed Al Ain’s tally with a late strike in the second period. The lone goal for Al Dhafra came from Hamad Ali Al Ahbabi.
New Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike, who scored a brace to see Al Ain to a 4-2 win over Al Nasr in the Arabian Gulf Super Cup last week, missed the match due to injury. But that had little effect on The Boss’s aspirations as they were in control of proceedings from the start.
In the 17th minute, Netherlands international Ryan Babel played a one-two with ace playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman before unleashing a powerful shot that was well blocked by alert Al Dhafra keeper Abdullah Sultan Al Nasri.
Soon after, Al Dhafra’s David Barral Torres unleashed a long-ranger that was well stopped by Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.
Al Kathiri had a golden opportunity to put Al Ain ahead in the 25th minute, when he had Al Nasri at his mercy, latching on to a long ball from Omar. But Al Kathiri delayed the shot and, when he tried to set it up for Lee, he ended up placing it wide.
However, that miscue didn’t prove costly as Al Ain kept up the pressure and opened the scoring again in the 27th minute. Babel’s shot from way outside the box was blocked by Al Nasri, but the rebound landed straight on the foot of Al Kathiri, whose attempt ricocheted off the framework, allowing the overlapping Lee to place it into the open goal.
Two minutes later, Al Kathiri compensated for his misses by widening the lead. He first found Omar with a diagonal pass and then made a swift run through the middle to accept the latter’s measured through ball. After wrong-footing a defender, he shot home with a curling left-footed effort.
Al Dhafra came close to pulling one back in the 36th minute, skipper Makhete Diop rising high to connect with a cross from Ahmad Ebrahim Al Khafaji, but his header was saved by Eisa. Torres then missed the target with a good chance from a Diop cross.
After the change of ends, Diop had an easy opportunity to reduce the margin but, despite being left unmarked at the far post, he couldn’t tap the ball home.
The exceptional Abdul Rahman’s skills left Al Dhafra’s defence spellbound in the 75th minute, when his through ball allowed Eisa to slot home.
Elsewhere, Al Shabab scored once in each half for a 2-1 win against ten-man Sharjah.
Brazilian Henrique Luvannor opened the scoring in the tenth minute and skipper Carlos Villanueva ensured the three points with a bit of individual brilliance in the 67th minute.
Sharjah scored a consolation goal three minutes from the final whistle after Eisa Mohammad had handled the ball inside the area, allowing Wanderley Santos to score from the spot.
