Balazs and Tagliabue star in Al Wahda’s rout of Al Jazira
abu dhabi — Defending champions Al Wahda destroyed hapless Al Jazira 3-0 on Wednesday night to book their semis berth of the 201718 President’s Cup.
In the Capital derby played at the Bani Yas Stadium, Al Wahda’s goalscoring machine Sebastian Tagliabue netted first and Balazs Dzsudzsak hit the killer blow with his double in either halves.
Al Wahda were up and running in the quarterfinals with attempts on goal from Tareq Al Khodaim and Mourad Batna. It was only by 17 minutes that Al Jazira had their first chance on goal courtesy Al Wahda blooper. It was a shocking back pass from Al Wahda defender Ahmed Rashed and Al Jazira’s Ali Mabkhout pounced on the opportunity but the striker couldn’t get past keeper Mohammed Al Shamsi. Minutes later Mabkhout couldn’t find range on his header from Romarinho’s cross. Two chances were wasted in the space of few minutes and it also happened to be the only spell of play Al Jazira could dominate.
In 22 minutes, Batna came close to scoring following a mix-up between Al Jazira keeper Ali Khasif and defender Mohammed Al Musalami. And in 26 minutes, the floodgates finally opened.
Sebastian Tagliabue’s pass into the box got diverted from the leg of Al Jazira midfielder Harib Al Saadi and the Argentinian was quick to blast the ball past the keeper. Minutes later Al Wahda and Tagliabue could have scored again. It was a cheeky deep cross into the box from defender Mohammed Barqesh and Tagliabue controlled the delivery with a fine first touch but struck the woodwork with his volley. And in 31 minutes, Al Wahda netted.
It was a sensational effort as Balazs Dzsudzsak picked holes in defence and fired a long-ranger past the keeper into the right corner. The ease with which both the goals were scored dented Al Jazira’s confidence. Joining the party, Al Wahda keeper Al Shamsi made back-to-back saves tackling attempts from Mbark Boussoufa and Ahmed Al Attas.
Al Wahda continued to attack as Al Jazira spurned chances. The likes of Mabkhout, Romarinho, Al Attas and Boussoufa, despite best efforts, failed to find a way into Al Wahda goal.