Jaraaf outplay Lebanese team

Jaraaf club, Senegal's league champions, outplayed the Lebanese Olympic team 3-1 in the Rashid Bin Mohammad International football championship at the Dubai Police Officers' Stadium.

With this win, the Senegalese side topped Group A with six points from two matches, while Lebanon stayed at the bottom of the group with one point.

Less than 10 minutes from the kick-off, Jaraaf showed their supremacy by scoring the first goal through Mohamadou Traore.

The striker's powerful blast from the edge of the penalty area found the net to the right of Lebanon's goalkeeper Ziyad Al Sud.

But Jaraaf lost many scoring chances after the opening goal, with Traore himself losing many sitters.

Lebanon went on the attack in the second session. However, they also lost many opportunities as the Jaraaf defence stood firm.

Victor Simon struck the second for Jaraaf in the 59th minute when he broke through the shaky Lebanese defence and fired a right-footer, beating Al Sud to his left.

Six minutes later, Babacar Mbengue sealed victory for Jaraaf by scoring the third. Following a quick move by the Jaraaf midfielders, he went past the Lebanese defence and slotted the ball to the left of the 'keeper. Ahmad Al Shoum scored Lebanon's consolation goal, six minutes from time.

In an earlier game, the Yemeni national team and Al Shortta club of Iraq played out a goalless draw.

Each team have now one point after both of them lost their first match to Al Mereikh of Sudan.

The Iraqi club were the better side in the first 45 minutes, but they lost many attempts in front of the Yemeni goal.

The Yemeni defence suffered from the absence of central defender Khalid Afara who had been sent off in the last match.

They were lucky not to concede a goal when Iraqi player Mohammad Karim lobbed the ball towards the Yemeni goal but keeper Maaz Abdul Khaliq tipped it over for corner.

Iraq pressed hard and halfway through the first half were awarded four corner kicks, but they did not utilise them well. The best attempt for Yemen came in the last minute when defender Esmail Al Ghorashi's strong header was blocked by Iraq goalkeeper Ali Hussain.

Both teams shared the attacks in the second session with Yemen looking more dangerous in the last 15 minutes.

Today's matches:
At 9 pm: Al Wahdat (Jordan) v Al Shortta (Iraq). At 11 pm: Estighlal (Iran) v Lebanon Olympic team.