Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of the lowly-placed Sharjah in the Arabian Gulf League at the former’s homeground Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium here on Wednesday. This was Al Jazira’s second loss in 11 league games and they have now slipped to the third spot behind Al Wahda and Al Shabab.
In another early game, Al Ahli beat Kalba 2-0 with Saleem Khamis and Basheer Saeed scoring a goal apiece for the winners.
For Sharjah, Yousuf Saeed and Wanderley Santos Monteiro scored on either side of the half time while Ahmad Al Attas reduced the margin for the home side. The absorbing encounter saw both sides being reduced to 10-men in the latter part of the second half.
Al Jazira, in the absence of their star forwards Manuel Lanzini and league top scorer Mirko Vucinic, who missed out following a one-match ban for three yellow cards, lacked the firepower. They also missed the services of their custodian Ali Kasheif and Khalid Al Sennani took charge of the goal.
This allowed the visitors to press hard upfront and they should have taken an early lead, had Wanderley been able to direct his shot to perfection. Al Jazira also had their share of chances with Jonathan Pitroipa, Jucilei da Silva and Ahmad Rabeya also missing opportunities from inside the box.
However, three minutes from the half-time whistle, Saeed headed home off a cross from substitute Abdullah Darwish to put Sharjah in the lead.
Sharjah could have widened the lead in the 71st minute, but the vertical came to Al Jazira’s rescue. Rodriguinho Marinho’s feekick from well outside the box curled enough to beat the Jazira custodian in the air, but found the bottom of the vertical. Two minutes later, the hosts managed to draw level after Jucilei headed the ball inside the box and substitute Al Attas slotted home. Within minutes, Wanderley restored the lead and compensated for his earlier miss with a brilliant strike from outside the box after being set up by a measured through pass from Rodriguinho.
Thereafter, Al Jazira unleashed a series of raids and Sharjah had to soak in some anxious moments in front of goal. An Al Attas shot even hit the framework in the 82nd minute, much to the relief of the visitors.
Jazira’s chances of making a comeback was further dented when UAE international Khamis Esmail was given marching orders for a second bookable offence in the 84th minute. Sharjah’s Shahin Abdul Rahman also pocketed a needless red card for striking Mousa in the face in the dying minutes.
