It’s the penultimate week of action in UAE domestic football and Wednesday has the potential to play a pivotal role at both ends of the Arabian Gulf League table.
Sharjah – who for so long have been marching to the title – all of a sudden have a real scrap on their hands to lift a first championship in nearly quarter of a century, with Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club in hot pursuit.
Al Jazira, Al Ain and Al Wahda are battling for the third and final AFC Champions League spot. And can Emirates Club defy the odds and avoid relegation, yet again?
We look ahead to last but one round of fixtures.
KING NO LONGER FAVOURITES FOR CROWN?
Shabab Al Ahli are in fine form.
Sharjah are stumbling over the line and their task of lifting a belated sixth AGL crown will be seriously tested by an in-form Al Wahda on Wednesday.
A month ago they stood on the precipice of a maiden league title in 23 years. They’d just overcome a tricky test against promoted Bani Yas, who have enjoyed a stellar return to the top-flight, winning 2-1. Even when they then drew 2-2 with falling champions Al Ain in their next encounter, second-placed Shabab Al Ahli slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Wahda. It nudged them 10 points clear with five games to go. Job done.
Except, Sharjah have since slipped to draws against rock-bottom Dibba Al Fujairah and promoted strugglers Ittihad Kalba, while dreams of a maiden unbeaten season in the professional era were dashed last time out when Abdulaziz Al Anbari’s troops lost for the first time, downed 3-2 by Al Wasl in their 24th game of the campaign.
Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s men, meanwhile, have roared to three straight wins – in addition to lifting the President’s Cup – to sit just three points adrift ahead of the penultimate round of action.
As Sharjah welcome Henk ten Cate’s Champions League-chasing Clarets, Shabab Al Ahli host Bani Yas. Both are tricky games but successive defeats for Sharjah and victory for their rivals would now leave the sides locked on the same points, with Sharjah’s goal difference superior by five as things stand.
The King are crumbling, but have they already been beaten, psychologically? We will know more after the dust settles on Wednesday.
CLARITY FOR THE CLARETS
Veteran striker Sebastian Tagliabue (l) has been in sublime form for Wahda.
Besides being in breathtaking form – they have lost just once in their last eight league games to surge up the table – Wahda will have designs on finishing in the coveted third and final Champions League spot.
Iconic former Al Jazira coach Ten Cate – much like he did when he took over the struggling Pride of Abu Dhabi halfway through the 2015/16 season and steered them back on the right course – has had a galvanising effect on a talented squad that had somehow veered away from a bright beginning to the campaign.
Laurentiu Reghecampf – who has since moved on to Wasl – was dismissed after a 2-1 home defeat to Jazira at the end of November, the culmination of a five-game winless streak that left them marooned in fifth.
Ten Cate has overseen a run of 14 wins in his 20 games in charge, including eight victories from 12 league games. The Al Nahyan Stadium outfit remain fifth but only on goal difference with crestfallen champions Al Ain. Ten Cate’s former side Jazira occupy third and the sought-after final Asia spot.
For the Clarets, the goal is clear. Take the AGL crown out of the hands of the King this week and follow it up by beating its former wearers – Al Ain – in their final game in 10 days’ time, and Ten Cate could write his name into folklore at a second capital club.
CAN THE FALCONS FLY CLEAR YET AGAIN?
Emirates (white) and Fujairah are scrapping to stay in the division.
Fans of Emirates Club will be fed up of seeing their side mired in the relegation muck, season after season. No-one wants to see their team constantly struggling to stay afloat. They’d rather be progressing, pushing into the sanctuary of mid-table, or even hitting the heights of their President’s Cup win from 2009/10.
But one thing that will fill followers of the Falcons with joy heading into the final two weeks of the season – and yet another seemingly impossible escape – is that they are battle-hardened. They have been there and done it all before, got the t-shirt. They have several of those in fact.
Twelve months ago they finished in the bottom two but staved off relegation after overcoming Al Hamriyah 1-0 in a relegation play-off with the First Division League club. In 2016/17 they finished 12th of the 14 teams, surviving by a point thanks to a final day 1-0 win at Al Nasr.
It was a similar story the previous season where a 0-0 draw with runners-up Al Ain on the last day was enough to again survive by a mere point.
They finished 10th in 2014/15 – their highest placing since winning promotion two years earlier – and 11th the previous campaign.
This trait should fill Fujairah-based duo Fujairah and Dibba with fear ahead of the final two games. Dibba look doomed as there is a five-point gap to their neighbours and Emirates, who are both on 18 points.
It won’t be straightforward for either side, but Emirates’ prior record gives them the edge. They go to Ajman while the Wolves host Nasr on Thursday, with both facing the top two – Fujairah travel to Shabab Al Ahli and Emirates welcome Sharjah – on the final day.
Can the Falcons somehow avoid getting their wings clipped and keep flying? History suggests when given the choice of fight or flight, the Falcons soar.
