Friday sees the all-conquering Arabian Gulf League champions face off against the Dutchman’s fallen giants for a spot in the President’s Cup showpiece.
A day later, the Eagles – who ended up 15th in the 2015/16 Premier League – will be bidding to upset Manchester United and lift England’s most-storied trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
For ex-Barcelona and Chelsea assistant Ten Cate, their road to Wembley shows his seventh-placed finishers can provide an upset.
He said: “Ahli is the best team in the league, they won the championship by miles from the rest.
“But it is a cup game, anything can happen. Look at the FA Cup, Crystal Palace are in the final.
“It is not always the best team which goes to the final. On Friday, one of two very good teams is going out with nothing.”
Jazira registered an epic 6-5 win during last Friday’s quarter-final against Sharjah, twice coming back from two goals down.
#منصور_يالفخر
— AlJazira FC Official (@AlJazira_uae) May 17, 2016
بدعمكم
إستاد خليفة بن زايد بالعين ينتظر مؤازرتكم الجمعة أمام الأهلي في نصف النهائي #كأس_رئيس_الدولة pic.twitter.com/8g4Kra1ujw
They will look to red-hot forward Ali Mabkhout at Al Ain’s Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, who notched 23 times to become the AGL’s second top scorer. But UAE team-mate and Ahli defender Walid Abbas says it would be a mistake to focus just on the 25-year-old.
He said: “We should concentrate always in all the games, whether we play against Ali Mabkhout or not.”
Meanwhile, Al Ain board member Mohammed Obeid Hamdoun has accused the UAE Football Association of not following through on a promise to ease the club’s fixture pile-up and move their semi-final.
The Boss play Bani Yas on Saturday less than 72 hours after the first leg of their AFC Champions League round-of-16 tie against Zob Ahan, with the return match coming on Wednesday in Iran.
“We received a proposal from the UAE FA to say the semi-final would be played another time, but that now does not appear to be happening,” said Hamdoun.
