Poor start for in-form UAE teams

Abu Dhabi: The two in-form teams in the current UAE Pro League, Al Wahda and Al Jazira, tasted defeat in their opening matches of the AFC Champions League which kicked off on Tuesday night.

Playing at home, Al Jazira were outclassed by Qatar's Al Gharafa 2-1 while in Iran's Esfahan city, Zob Ahan scored a 1-0 win over Al Wahda.

Moroccan player Othman Al Assas (12th) and Iraqi international Younus Mahmoud (53rd) scored for Al Gharafa while Brazilian international Rafael Sobis reduced the margin for Al Jazira in the 55th minute.

Al Jazira's Brazilian coach Abel Braga, who saw his team surrender the League lead to Al Wahda a fortnight ago said he was highly disappointed with his team's loss.

"I am really surprised by the way my team lost. I am very disappointed and will speak to my players and tell them how I feel," he said.

"After we scored our first goal I was confident we would come back with more goals. But it was disappointing. We have been defeated before but not in this manner," Braga said.

Positive

Al Gharafa coach Caio Junior said that with this crucial away win, his side will be motivated to advance to the next round for the first time.

"I would have been happy to just draw and take a point back. But now this win will motivate us to qualify for the second round. I think now we have a good chance after this away win," said Junior.

Braga said he was disappointed with the way his team succumbed to the Qatari side.

"There is not much to say. What surprised was the way my team lost," Braga said. "When we managed to score our first goal I thought we would come back with more goals. But their play was disappointing. We have been defeated before, but not in this manner."

Al Wahda, who were forced to play second fiddle for most of the game against their Iranian rivals, were done in by a second half header by Brazilian Igor Castro.

Mansour Ebrahimzadeh, coach of the victorious Zob Ahan team said: "We have been slotted into the group of this year but I would prefer to call it the ‘group of life'."

"We are only aiming to reach the final rounds of the tournament. Zob Ahan fans will not be satisfied with just qualifying from the group stage, so we are really thinking of making it into the final rounds," he was quoted on the AFC website.

Al Wahda coach Josef Hickerberger said: "I believe the 1-0 result was fair. This match is finished and we cannot do anything about the result now, so we have to focus on subsequent matches.

"I was not completely satisfied with the condition of the pitch," he added. "My players said they grass was rather slippery and that was why they could not control the ball properly. Also the weather was windy, which caused problems for us."