NSL football: Wellington International win Dubai Cup

Sport360 staff 00:30 29/11/2016
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  • Malek Abdelnaser (centre, bottom row) found his scoring touch for Wellington.

    The bespectacled striker won back-to-back man of the match awards and brought his total haul for the day to six goals, scoring two in each game he played from the quarter-final to the final.

    He hit a brace in their 3-1 victory over Springdales in the last-eight before scoring two more in their 2-1 semi final triumph over Millennium School.

    It was not a one-man show, however, for Wellington as coach Rob Weaver effectively rotated his players.

    Weaver gave Abdelnaser only a couple of minutes playing time in the second half of the semi-final and that was good enough to give him energy to score two quick goals in the first half of their final against DPS-Dubai.

    Greek player Harry Mantziaris also stepped up for Wellington in the final and was named man of the match.

    Another effective player was Eissa Aburashid, who made several assists to Abdelnaser and replacement goalkeeper Mohammad Himmo, who was unnerved and conceded only three goals in three matches.

    “That was truly enjoyable – us cruising to victory and winning the Dubai Cup,” Abdelnaser said.

    “There were lots of ankles broken because we moved fluidly on the field and our opponents couldn’t catch us. We won as a team.”

    Weaver added: “We had a fantastic team performance and good organisation. We took our chances when we had them.

    “Our defence was tight and we didn’t give our opponents much chances. We controlled the game and since we played three straight games, we cooled down after each match to keep the momentum – it was a total team performance.”

    By clinching the Dubai Cup, Wellington also avenged their previous 3-1 loss to DPS-Dubai in the initial stage of the tournament.

    Wellington did not get past the group stage at the inaugural tournament but will now lead the eight Dubai teams in the Round of 16 stage which resumes on January 21.

    Meanwhile, DPS-Dubai’s Naushad Ali said his team’s aim for glory is still alive as they will also be competing in the knockouts.

    “We just need to sit down, work hard and prepare for next year’s knockout stage,” he said.

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