AL WASL 2 (A. Senghor 67’, M. Jassim 88’) AL AHLI 1 (Ciel 39’)
Al Wasl handed Al Ahli their first defeat of the season by taking down the Arabian Gulf League leaders 2-1 last night at the Zabeel Stadium.
The Cheetahs bounced back from the humiliating 6-1 thrashing they received from Al Nasr in the previous round, to score twice in the second half through Andre Senghor and Maher Jassim after Ahli had taken the lead via Ciel six minutes from the break.
And it didn’t just rain but it poured on Ahli. To make matters worse, it was announced during the match that coach Cosmin Olaroiu had received a six-month suspension due to a breach in his contract with his former club Al Ain.
The first half was an explosive affair with the two sides firing from both ends and a few minutes after an early threat from Ahli’s Ismaeel Al Hammadi, Al Wasl’s Khalifa Abdulla drove down the right and sent in a deft cross that forced Saif Yousif into a fully-stretched save.
Two minutes on and Wasl were at it again, this time through Fahad Hadeed who barely missed from outside the box.
But it was Ahli who went into the break 1-0 up thanks to a long ball from Basheer Saeed that found Ciel, who was there to execute a clinical finish in the 39th minute.
Wasl returned a stronger side in the second half and scored from two set pieces. The first arrived in the 67th minute and was courtesy of a brilliant header from Senghor who latched onto a Ali Salmeen corner kick.
And the second goal shocked the visitors two minutes from the whistle. Mohamed Naser’s well-struck free kick was blocked by Yousif but Salmeen made the most out of the rebound, sending in a cross to Jassim, who scored the winner on his second try.
“This victory is due to the hard work of the players and the great tactics from our coach, and the most important thing is that we managed to make our fans happy,” said Wasl midfielder Fahad Hadeed.
The defeat couldn’t have come at a worse time for Ahli after Shabab had reduced the gap to the league leaders to just one point, following their hard-fought win over Nasr.
The league’s top two are set to face-off next weekend at the Rashid Stadium. But Olaroiu says it’s too soon to worry about the title race.
“Shabab’s win didn’t affect us,” said the Romanian coach.
“There’s no need to feel pressure right now, it’s still too early in the league and the fight for the title will be a tough one and will continue until the end.
“Against Wasl, we lacked the fighting spirit that we have shown in previous matches. We made some mistakes especially in the set pieces, we conceded two goals from them. Now we have to forget this and concentrate for the next game against Shabab.
“Everyone wants to win against our team. They played a tough game, very aggressive, they don’t give us many spaces. They played with more spirit than us and in the end they won. I hope it’s just an accident and that we stand up and go on in the next game.”
