It was all Zabeel on the night of the futsal and volleyball finals at the Nad Al Sheba Ramadan Tournament, as they claimed the title in the respective events to close out the month-long event.
In futsal, Fohood Zabeel earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Al Joker, scoring both goals in the second half to break a defensive struggle. It was the second straight first-place finish for the team, who were the defending champions after winning last year’s competition as Al Jawarah.
The first half saw the teams stand their ground in their end and while a handful of scoring opportunities arose for both sides, none came to fruition.
After the break, Fohood Zabeel finally broke through as Rafael Franca put in the game-winning goal with seven minutes remaining, before UAE’s Abdul Karim Jameel provided insurance two minutes later with a tap-in finish off a rebound from Fernando Cardinal’s shot to seal the win.
“We have a good feeling now because we worked for two months to win this cup,” said Fohood Zabeel’s Ricardo “Ricardinho” Felipe da Silva Braga, who received the award for the top player in the tournament.
“We knew we had much pressure because we won last year and they have a very good team with Alex and Falcao.”
Volleyball also saw a closely-contested match and exciting finish earlier in the night as Zabeel topped Fursan 3-2 (19-25, 25-16, 25-20, 24- 26, 15-11).
Despite falling a set behind early on, Zabeel found their rhythm on the attack, finishing with spikes against the defensive presence of Fadhel Abbas and Mohammed Shammil, who offered resistance at the net.
After winning consecutive sets to take a 2-1 lead, Zabeel bounced back from dropping the clinching fourth set, edging the tiebreaker 15-11 to cap their title run.
“It was important for us to maintain our composure as a team despite being a set down,” said Zabeel’s Mohammed Al Suwaidi.
“Fursan had a strong team especially in the attack, but we knew we could beat them if we maintained our formation and keep our calm especially at crucial moments.”
The closing ceremonies saw trophies and medals handed out to the top teams in each event, as well as individual honours.
Held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai and chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the annual tournament gave out more than Dh7 million in prize money.
