Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Two of the UAE’s representatives in the Group Stage of this year’s AFC Champions League, Al Ahli and Al Ain, posted wins in the UAE League Cup on Sunday despite missing a galaxy of stars who are currently with the UAE national team in Australia for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
Al Ahli had to make do without eight regulars and head coach Cosmin Olariou, who has been loaned to the Saudi Arabia national team to lead their Asian Cup campaign, for their Group B fixture against Fujairah, but first-half goals from Saeed Jassim (24th) and Mohamed Sabeel (38th) were enough to seal a 2-0 victory for the UAE champions.
Meanwhile an Al Ain team devoid of seven of their key players still had too much in their tank for Ajman and ran out 3-1 winners at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium courtesy of two late goals from Diaky Ibrahim (pictured).
Ajman defender Mubarak Hassan gifted Al Ain the lead with a 12th minute own goal only for Moroccan midfielder Driss Fettouhi to level the match in the 28th minute. Parity lasted until the 81st minute when Diaky Ibrahim gave Al Ain the lead before the former Al Jazira midfielder grabbed his second five minutes into stoppage time.
Inaugural AFC Champions League winners Al Ain embark on their tenth campaign in Asia’s premier club competition on February 24th when they hosts Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab while Al Ahli are in action on the following day but must wait until the outcome of the February 17 playoffs to find out their opponents.
Saudi Arabian namesakes Al Ahli will entertain the winner of the Preliminary Round 2 match which sees 2014 AFC Cup champions Qadsia SC take on Jordanian side Al Wehdat in Kuwait on February 10.
Meanwhile Al Wahda, who await the winners of the Preliminary Round 2 clash between 2011 ACL champions Al Sadd and Riffa of Bahrain in the 2015 Playoff couldn’t match the success of their fellow continental participants and went down 3-0 to Bani Yas in their UAE League Cup match on Sunday.
Bani Yas’ victory also ensured that League Cup holders Al Ahli will miss out on a top-two finish and their group and consequently ended their hopes of retaining the trophy.
Photo: AFP