Al Ain sparkle in Austrian friendly

After conducting a series of training sessions for a week at their ongoing warm-up camp in Austria, the Al Ain soccer team have started their friendly games under the guidance of their newly-signed French coach Bruno Metsu.

They hammered Austrian third division club Stevar Barvin 6-0 in the game played in Salisburg on Sunday.

Mohammed Omer opened the score off a penalty, 25 minutes into play when Moroccan pro Saeed Kharazi was tackled from behind inside the box.

Skipper Fahd Ali added the second a few minutes later and Mohammed Omer was again on target when he capitalised on Saeed Kharazi's perfect pass to make it 3-0. Kharazi and his Hassan Abdullah scored the fourth and fifth goals and midfielder Sultan Rashid concluded the rout.

Meanwhile, the UAE league champions and Super Cup runners-up last season are likely to conclude the first part of their external camp in Austria tomorrow.

They were scheduled to play their second game last evening against a second division squad.

The 41-member mission, headed by Hamad bin Nikhairat Al Amry, member of the executive committee and supervisor of the team, will fly on Friday to Nortburg in Germany to conclude their warm-up camp.

Metsu was planning four friendly games in Germany scheduled for August 17, 21, 23 and 25 before returning home on August 28.

Al Ain team are due to start their campaign in the domestic competitions on September 12 when they meet Al Himreiya Club in the President's Cup preliminaries.