Al Ain scraped into the President’s Cup semi-finals after a nail-biting penalty shootout victory over Al Wasl in Abu Dhabi last night.
After the game finished 2-2 following extra time, Al Ain were left thanking their lucky stars having battled back from 2-0 down to squeeze through 9-8 on spot-kicks.
The shootout went all the way to the goalkeepers with Cheetahs stopper Rashid Ali missing the decisive kick immediately after Al Ain stopper Khalid Essa had tucked his away.
An Asamoah Gyan own goal and a Mariano Donda strike, in probably his last game for the club, had given the Cheetahs a well deserved 2-0 lead but Alex Brosque struck before half time and Gyan would later score from the spot to force extra time and penalties.
Al Ain have endured a tough season but their output has betrayed probably the strongest squad in the UAE. On top of that, they have a leading coach in Quique Sanchez Flores. They were expected to win, and win easily against an Al Wasl outfit in a state of flux.
And with Al Ain off the pace in the Arabian Gulf League, the President’s Cup offers the chance for serious silverware.
Al Wasl simply wanted it more in the opening half an hour and profited as a result.
Their opener came in the 11th minute and from pressure within the box from a corner, the ball ping-ponging around the penalty area before coming off Gyan and into the goal. Their second was perhaps a brighter look to the future as new signing Edson burst into the penalty area, forcing Mohammad Salem to bring him down in a fit of desperation.
The out-of-favour Donda stepped up to the spot. Essa made a smart save at waist height to his right but could only parry back to the Argentine who casually knocked in Al Wasl’s second in the 26th minute.
Yet at 2-0, it was then that Al Ain’s quality began to shine through and their riposte was classy.
A well worked move made it’s way to Omar Abdulrahman on the edge of the box, whose first time pass bulleted into the feet of Brosque. A perfect first touch put him in position and a well-struck effort brought Al Ain back into it.
Gyan continually troubled Al Wasl’s back line with his movement and, though he looked a yard offside, latched onto a though-ball from Ibrahim Diaky and was brought down by keeper Ali.
Untroubled, Gyan stepped up and stroked home the penalty to bring the sides level. It wouldn’t be his last of the night either as time ebbed away and Al Ain booked their semi-final spot via a shootout.
Holders Al Ahli come from begind to see off Al Wahda
President’s Cup holders Al Ahli moved safely into the semifinals last night as they twice came back against Al Wahda to win 4-2.
It took just 11 minutes for Al Wahda to get on the scoresheet through Damien Diaz but it was soon cancelled out by Luis Jimenez six minutes later.
The Excellencies responded immediately with Diaz again on target, giving Al Wahda the lead going into half time. From there, Al Ahli were rampant. Grafite equalised early in the second half before Ciel and Ismael Al Hammadi wrapped up the win.
In Bani Yas, Al Dhafra snuck into the semi-finals courtesy of a last-second winner from Jose as the Abu Dhabi side defeated Al Shabab 1-0.
Elsewhere, Al Thaid’s dream run came to an end as they went down 3-2 to Al Nasr courtesy of goals from Lima – from the spot – as well as Ibrahima Toure and Tareq Ahmed.
