Al Jazira beats Dubai to reach semi-finals

Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira became the first team to secure their place in the semi-finals of the Etisalat Cup from the first group after trouncing Dubai 4-0 on Friday to increase their tally to 19 points from eight matches.

Al Jazira have two remaining matches but their progress to the final four will not change, irrespective of the results.

Al Jazira should be thankful for their midfielder Sultan Bargash who was hailed as the team hero after scoring a hat-trick that sealed the result in his team's favour.

Al Ain overtook Dubai in second place after beating Emirates 3-0 with 13 points, one point more than Dubai, while Al Wasl jumped to fourth with the same tally of points after defeating Al Wahda away 2-1 with an injury-time goal scored by Eisa Ali, the captain of the team. Al Wahda remained fifth with 9 points while Emirates stayed at the bottom with 5.

In the second group, defending champions Al Shabab continued their sole leadership of the group despite going down to Al Ahli 2-1, with 16 points, two more than Al Ahli in second place.

Ajman retreated to third place with 13 points following their goalless tie with Sharjah.

Bani Yas snatched fourth place from Al Nasr with 11 points while Sharjah remained bottom with 3 points.

RESULTS

First group

• Dubai 0 Al Jazira 4
• Al Ain 3 Emirates 0
• Al Wahda 1 Al Wasl 2

Second group

• Al Ahli 2 Al Shabab 1
• Sharjah 0 Ajman 0
• Al Nasr 1 Bani Yas 2