Karimi powers Al Ahli to President's Cup

Al Ahli won the President's Cup for the sixth time beating Al Shaab 2-1 in the final yesterday at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Al Jazira Club here following a competitive and thrilling encounter.

Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and the patron of the final, presented the prestigious trophy to Al Ahli as Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the President of Al Ahli Club, Sheikh Abdullah bin Salim Al Qasimi, the President of Al Shaab, and senior officials attended the match.

Al Shaab were better in the first half taking all the attacking initiations and pressing hard against the Al Ahli goal.

But their lone striker Mohammed Rashid Sorrour lacked enough assistance to have a fruitful harvest of his efforts.

Jasim Al Dokhi and Cassiano, who were supposed to attack from the midfield, were far away behind most of the times.

All-field-defence and fast counter attacks, the trade mark of Al Shaab proved to be lethal as the Al Ahli defenders failed many times to stop the danger of their opponents' fast moves.

Al Shaab squandered three chances via Sorrour and Yousuf Hassan and Al Dokhi while Al Ahli had a golden chance when a corner kick flew from Karimi to Metrovic whose header was saved before crossing the goal line by Saeed Yousuf.

Jasim Akbar, the Al Ahli defender sent a long pass behind the Al Shaab's defenders and their custodian Jasim Ali failed to intercept.

The ball went to Ali Karimi who shot into the wide open goal, 36 minutes into the game taking the lead for Al Ahli.

Al Ahli's jubilations were short lived as Yousuf crossed from the right flank, four minutes later and Sorrour was at hand to head home the equaliser with Akbar failing to clear in front of the Al Shaab striker. Al Ahli came after the breather more relaxed and determined to win the trophy.

Their moves were more organised and dangerous.

Salim Khamis and Karimi wreaked havoc in the Al Shaab defence which committed many mistakes in the second half losing the team's main source of strength.

It was again Karimi who saved the day for his team as he received a long pass from Ahmed Shah and went into a difficult angle before shooting into the goal.

Al Shaab's custodian Jasim helped by diverting the ball into his own net, 20 minutes after the break of the winning goal.

Zoran, the Al Shaab's coach, tried to strengthen his attack by bringing in Nabil Ibrahim and Sameer Ibrahim but Ille Pallaci brought more defenders by introducing Sami Anbar and Badr Abdul Rahman.

His changes proved more successful as his team defended their lead and won the Cup.

Adil Saqr, Al Ahli's substitute and Metrovic, both squandered easy chances in the injury time.

Saqr went past the goalkeeper and shot outside the goal while Metrovic's first-time shot was deflected by the cross bar.

It was sweet revenge as Al Shaab had defeated Ahli 6-1 in the first round of the same competition.

But yesterday Al Ahli compensated their loss of the league title and secured their berth in the Asian Champions League next season.