Ahdaaf Cup: Surprise results as the quarter finals are set

David Cooper - Writer 13:33 22/05/2019
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  • The quarter finals of the Ahdaaf Cup, powered by Nike, are set – and not without a surprise or two.

    The biggest shock of the last-16 came when Angry birds got the better of previously unbeaten Fiorentina Dubai – a side they had lost to in the group stages.

    Another 100% record went as Tayseer knocked out Boanconeri, 3-0.

    The unbeaten Marhoom Humaid Aref were able to sneak past Amazing Boys to book their place in the quarters and a clash with Angry Birds.

    Elsewhere, Viene El Invierno, Jumeira, Guns and Moses, Gladiators and Santos all made it through to the quarter finals.

    Jumeira lost their first game of the tournament but have now won three on the bounce and fancy their chances of reaching the final.

    Ghanem, Jumeira captain said: “We go into every game expecting to win, even though we lost our first game to Falcons, but they’ve been knocked out of the competition now so we think we can win the whole thing. The only game we lost was the first one and we had a lot of our key players missing so we don’t expect to lose again. Luckily the games are late so even though we’re fasting it’s not affecting our performance.”

    “The games are quite short so there’s not much time to come back if you go a goal down, so we try and score quickly. The standard is high so it makes it a good competition. We played well against Mazarita in the Round of 16 and Santos is who we’re playing in the quarters which will be a tough game. We played against them before last season actually so we know it’s a tough game but we think we can win.”

    Santos’ captain, Hamza said:  “The tournament has been really good, it’s organised very well. Nike have given us two kits, which is nice, we don’t get that at other tournaments. The standard is high, we know the teams in Dubai from other tournaments we compete in so we know that it’s going to be good competition.”

    “The problem with Ramandan is we can’t always get the whole team there so the squad varies from time to time. But we know there’s a cash prize, which is obviously a nice motivator to win.

    “We’ve played at these pitches before and they’re good we play well on the surface because it’s a bit like street football, which is what we’re used to. Personally I’ve played twice in this tournament and I’m looking forward to tonight’s quarter final.”

    Round of 16 results:

    Falcons 2 – 3 Viene El Invierno
    Marhoom Humaid Aref 1 – 1 Amazing Boys
    Fiorentinva Dubai 1 – 2 Angry Birds
    Bianconeri 0 – 3 Tayseer
    Mazarita 0 – 3 Jumeira
    Rijab 0 – 3 Guns & Moses
    Gladiators 4 – 0 Hypervenom
    Santos 3 – 1 Misho

    Quarter final draw:

    Viene El Invierno vs Tayseer
    Angry Birds vs Marhoom Humaid Aref
    Jumeira vs Santos
    Gladiators vs Guns & Moses

    The Adhaaf Cup, powered by Nike

    Played on two Nike-branded pitches, in the Al Quoz industrial area, teams will compete against each other in a league table format before progressing onto the knockout stages of the competition. Matches are played in a five-a-side format with sides allowed to register seven players in the squad, who can be used in rotation during the game.

    Teams are competing over nine days as they battle it out for the winner’s trophy.

    There’s competition for both males and females as 24 men’s teams who will be looking to take home a share of the Dhs 30,000 grand prize. The Nike slogan for the tournament, which is emblazoned around the pitches, says ‘End it with speed, end it with precision’, which is exactly what the teams will have to do as matches are just 30 minutes in length.

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