Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda and Al Ain geared up their preparations for tomorrow's encounter in the final of the etisalat Cup in the UAE Football League (UFL) at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Jazira Club starting at 7.30pm.
Contests between these two teams have always been exciting because of their traditional rivalry.
While Al Wahda regard the match as the last chance to save their season by winning a title, Al Ain have still a chance to win three titles.
They have already reached the final of the President's Cup in which they will meet Al Shabab next week.
In the UFL they are placed third on the standings behind Al Ahli and Al Jazira in first and second places respectively.
Both the teams were playing in the etisalat Cup so far without their international players who have been in duty with the national senior team.
But in the final, both clubs will field their international players who will return to their clubs after UAE's last night's match against Saudi Arabia in the 2010 World Cup qualifier.
That means Al Wahda will have the services of Esmail Mattar, Abdul Rahim Juma, Hayder Allo Ali, Mohammad Al Shehhi, Hamadan Al Kamali and Mahmoud Khamis.
Al Ain side will include Saif Mohammad, Abdullah Malulla, Faris Juma, Muhannad Al Enazy and Mohammad Fayez.
Al Ain produced the most convincing displays in the preliminary qualifiers of etisalat Cup.
But the competition between the two clubs has never been predictable and the cup could go either way depending on how the teams performon the big day.
In the semi-final, Al Ain defeated Al Jazira 4-1 and 1-0 while Al Wahda beat Al Ahli 3-1 before losing 1-0 but reaching the final on the aggregate.
The international players' return will help Al Wahda more than Al Ain as the foreign players of Al Ain are a class apart.
Al Wahda have been relying more on their domestic players to achieve results.
Six of their domestic players area on the national team and they are first choice in their clubs.
Of the five international players of Al Ain in the national team, only Juma, Al Enazy and Fayez have played regularly in their club matches this season.The good news for the Al Ain camp is the full recovery of their dynamic wingback Ali Al Waheebi while their captain Chilean Jorge Valdivia is still fighting to regain fitness.
But their Brazilian striker Andre Diaz has displayed his leadership as a stand-in captain by scoring four goals in the two matches in the semifinal round.
