Al Wasl on a roll after 3-0 win over Shabab Al Ahli
abu dhabi — Devastated Shabab Al Ahli Dubai players and new coach Mahdi Ali stood in disbelief as Zabeel Stadium celebrated Al Wasl’s 3-0 victory on Friday night.
The result sees Dubai side Al Wasl maintain top spot in the Arabian Gulf League. The victory was clinched by the top-notch goals from foreign recruits Fabio de Lima (24 minutes), Ronaldo Mendes (25) and Anthony Caceres (73).
Fabio de Lima opened the scoring for the Cheetahs with his 12th goal of the season. The Brazilian curled in a free-kick from 30 yards out.
A minute later, Lima received Ronaldo Mendes’ through pass after a misplaced pass by Shabab Al Ahli defence, before returning the pass to Mendes who slotted home to double the hosts lead.
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai were on the back foot from the early goals and that too through set pieces. The frustration of visitors was such that they ended up with nine players as defenders Salmeen Khamis and Walid Abbas were send off.
Mahdi Ali’s misery in his Shabab Al Ahli debut was compounded when Anthony Caceres rifled in a second free-kick past goalkeeper Hassan Hamza in the 72nd minute to complete the rout.
This was surely not the result Mahdi Ali would have wanted.
“It was a well-deserved win for Al Wasl. They fought very well,” Shabab Al Ahli coach Ali said after the match as his team stay at sixth spot with just 15 points.
After 11 matches, Al Wasl stay top with 25 points and a better goal difference to second-placed Al Ain, who too have 25 points after beating Al Dhafra in an early match.
At Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain beat Al Dhafra 2-1 with all second-half goals.
Omar and Mohamed Abdulrahman had good combination play and the latter started the scoring with a long-range effort.
Substitute Ibrahim Diaky scored after a one-two with Markus Berg. Al Dhafra pulled one back at the end through substitute Saeed Al Katheeri.
The third match between Dibba and Sharjah ended in 1-1 draw at Fujairah Stadium.
Brazilian Welliton Soares scored for Sharjah whereas Driss Fettouhi equalised from a free-kick.
Dibba are now eighth and Sharjah at ninth spot.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com AGL STANDINGS TeAm P W D L F A P Al Wasl 11 7 4 0 24 11 25 Al Ain 11 7 4 0 22 12 25 Al Wahda 10 6 2 2 23 920 Al Nasr 11 5 2 4 18 13 17 Al Jazira 10 4 4 2 16 14 16 Shabab Al Ahli 11 3 6 2 15 10 15 Ajman 11 3 3 5 13 17 12 Dibba 11 2 5 4 11 17 11 Sharjah 11 2 4 5 10 16 10 Hatta 11 2 2 7 17 31 8 Al Dhafra 11 1 5 5 14 22 8 Emirates 11 2 1 8 13 24 7