Al Ain’s new era begins with a draw

Al Ain: All roads in Al Ain were leading in one direction on Friday — to the new, state-of-the-art Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, which hosted its first match.

Football in the Garden City got an impressive facelift with the addition of the new venue and home fans turned out in large numbers to celebrate, with Al Ain taking on Al Dhafra in the Arabian Gulf League.

The match ended 1-1.

As the sun went down, the floodlights took full effect, adding true colour to the occasion as the lights shone on the 600 independently mounted fabric panels on the outer shell of the stadium.

The atmosphere inside was electric as every move from the home team was cheered with drum beats and a deafening roar. It looked like a sea of Al Ain’s purple and white colours.

A family festival to mark the opening of the 25,000-capacity stadium — The Big Kick Off — started on Thursday featuring sports, entertainment programmes and healthy lifestyle promotions.

The area surrounding the stadium is also undergoing huge development. The largest gym in the emirate is being built, along with cycling and jogging tracks, apartments, an international hotel and 50 restaurants and retail outlets.

“Al Ain is one of the best teams in the UAE and we needed a stadium like this. It is simply amazing. I hope it will also bring good luck for us and we will improve our showing,” said fan Mohammad Nasser.

And indeed Al Ain needed that slice of luck when it came to the outcome of the match, as they missed a golden opportunity to take three points and finally had to settle for a draw.

The hosts came close to scoring several times in the first half but somehow failed to get the break through. Standing in their way on most occasions was Al Dhafra custodian Mohammad Ghuloom, who weathered several anxious moments.

Ivory Coast midfielder Bakary Sare was supposed to replace Brazilian Michel Bastos, but coach Quique Sanchez Flores surprisingly chose to give Yassine Al Ghanassy, a new signing from Belgium club Gent, the nod. The 23-year-old made some defence-splitting runs, but ran out of ideas once inside the ‘D’.

Star playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman was also kept in check by the resilient Al Dhafra defence.

Brilliant header

Finally Esmail Ahmad rose to the occasion and ended the agony for the home side in the 75th minute with a brilliant header from an Abdul Rahman corner.

That goal triggered wild celebrations among the Al Ain fans, but the party didn’t continue for long as Makhete Diop, left unmarked, drew Al Dhafra level with a measured header from a left-wing cross by Abdul Raheem Juma six minutes from time.

Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan had a golden opportunity to give the day a happy ending, but he dragged his snapshot fractionally wide of the post after an immaculate through ball from Abdul Rahman.

There was even more misery for the hosts in injury time, when they had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside.

The draw leaves both sides on 24 points from 16 games, with Al Dhafra in sixth place ahead of Al Ain on goal difference.

High-flying Sharjah defeated bottom club Ajman 2-1 in Friday’s other early game.