Boss defeat hands ahli title
Red Knights taste seventh league success as second-string Al Ain lose to Fujairah
DUBAI — Al Ahli have been crowned champions of the Arabian Gulf League without even touching the ball on Thursday. Al Ain’s shock 3-2 defeat away at Fujairah meant that the final two fixtures have been rendered meaningless, so to speak.
Al Ain, with 56 points, had to beat Fujairah and then Emirates in their final two fixtures of the season and hope Al Ahli lost both their games to Bani Yas and Al Shaab to make it a tie at the top of the table. Al Ahli just needed a point from the remaining two to nudge ahead but with ‘The Boss’ losing at Fujairah, they ended up handing the Red Knights, who are yet to play, the title on a platter.
Meanwhile, Fujairah’s stunning win, coming on the back of their 3-1 victory over Al Jazira last week, pushed the relegation battle for another day with them tied on 26 points with Emirates and Al Sharjah. Al Sharjah play later on Friday.
Against what was a mostly a second-string Al Ain with coach Zlatko Dalic preferring to rest a lot of his first team regulars with an eye on their crucial AFC Champions League fixture against Uzbekistan’s Nasaf, Fujairah were three goals to the good with Christophe Mandanne, Rashid Jalal and Patrick Eze scoring on 17, 62 and 72 minutes respectively.
And although Waleed Alyamahi scored into his own net and Saeed Al Kathiri added a second for Al Ain, Eid Baroot’s men held on to stay away from the drop zone a little while longer.
Al Ain were without the Abdulrahman brothers — Omar and Mohammed as well as all four of their foreign imports in Douglas, Fellipe Bastos, Danilo Asprilla and Lee Myung Joo. First choice goalkeeper Khalid Eisa, captain Ibrahim Diaky, Mohanad Salem, Ismail Ahmed too didn’t figure in the line-up.
Fujairah took the lead on 17 minutes through Mandanne, who latched onto a neat through from Hassan Maatouk to slip it past reserve goalkeeper Mahmoud Al Mas.
Al Ain tested the Fujairah goalkeeper Mohammed Salem through Saeed Al Kathiri and Mohamed Fawzi but none could breach the Fujairah goal. Fujairah could have increased the lead 10 minutes after the break but Eze shot into the side netting.
But a second was not to be denied as Mandanne fed Rashid Jalal and the Al Nasr youth product fired his left-footer home just past the hour. Eze then made it 3-0 on 72 minutes by pouncing on a defensive lapse to put it past Mahmoud Al Mas.
Al Ain were given a route back into the game after Waleed Alyamahi deflected substitute Khalid Khalfan’s cross into his own net on 85 minutes.
Things got a bit more interesting after former Al Wahda man Saeed Al Kathiri scored a minute later to narrow the gap. But some stoic defending by Fujairah saw them home.