Al Hammadi brace in Wahda’s 5-1 win
dubai — Al Wahda romped to a 5-1 victory over Sharjah at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi in round 19 of the Arabian Gulf League on Thursday night.
Al Wahda started by adopting a high pressing regime, and just nine minutes into the game, midfielder Sultan Al Ghafri pressed on Fayez Juma deep into Sharjah’s half, recovered the ball and supplied a measured pass to Sebastian Tagliabue inside the penalty box. The Argentine advanced unmarked and found the top corner with a thunderous strike to put ‘The Clarets’ 1-0 up inside the first ten minutes.
Sharjah responded in the 23rd minute, when Venezuelan striker Gelmin Rivas outmuscled two defenders on the right wing before finding Chikashi Masuda with an accurate cross. The Japanese midfielder side-footed with his left into the net to bring the visitors level.
Late in the first half, Al Wahda captain Hamdan Al Kamali despatched a long range free-kick to find fellow centre-back Salem Sultan at the far post, Sultan directed his header across the mouth of Sharjah’s goal for Mohamed Al Hammadi to restore the hosts’ lead.
There were more goals in store in the second half, and Javier Aguirre’s men wasted no time in adding to their lead when 19-year-old Al Hammadi found space at the near post and converted a cross from Korean right back Rim Chang-woo into the back of Rashid Ahmed’s net for a third Al Wahda goal just 90 seconds after the restart.
Seven minutes later, Hungarian midfielder Balazs Dzsuzsak compounded Sharjah’s misery with a fourth goal, curling a free-kick in off the bar despite Ahmed’s desperate attempts to catch the ball.
Defensive midfielder Sultan Al Ghafri added his name to the scoresheet with his first strike of the season after he pulled off a lovely piece of skill to escape Al Hasan Saleh’s tackle and sent a powerful low shot with his left-foot to make it 5-1 in the 77th minute.
The win takes Al Wahda’s tally to 28 points, jumping two places up to fifth place. Sharjah remain tenth with 17 points, just five points above the relegation zone.