AL SHABAB 1 AL SHAAB 0
Al Shabab - Edgar Bruno 68'
Man of the Match - Azizbek Haydarov (Al Shabab)
Paul Radley
DUBAI // Accepted wisdom says that champion sides always eke out a positive result even when playing below their best.
By that reckoning, league leaders Al Ahli should remain wary of their nearest neighbours after Al Shabab took another three points on Friday night to stay within reach of them at the top of the Arabian Gulf League.
They eventually disposed of lowly Al Shaab at the Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium.
But to call it an ugly win is underplaying it.
This match would have lost a beauty to contest against either of Cinderella’s sisters.
“Today the most important thing was the three points,” said Marcos Paqueta, the Shabab manager, whose side remain six points behind Ahli.
“It wasn’t our day. We dominated the possession and the chances but we couldn’t translate it into goals.
“My players deserve credit for the way they persisted.”
The Brazilian coach, who is overseeing an unheralded title challenge at the Mamzar club, reckons his side have become victims of their own success.
“It is not us whose performances have degraded – the other teams are playing differently against us now,” Paqueta said.
“When teams play with eight or nine players behind the ball, and two centre defenders who are more than two metres tall, it is very difficult to penetrate.
“We scored a late goal here. If we had scored earlier, maybe it would have been a more open game.”
These two sides might only be separated by a few miles and a lone consonant, but there was a significant gulf in class between them here.
Shabab were basically playing attack versus defence from the point when Michael N’dri, the away side’s only serious goal threat, hobbled off.
He crumpled under a challenge after half an hour and was substituted.
N’dri sat in the stands in his going-out clothes before the second half had started.
Shaab were toothless from then on, but they did prove difficult to break down thanks to the doughty defence of Spencer Silva Lima.
Paqueta moved to break the deadlock when he removed Adel Abdullah, the defensive midfielder, who had arguably been the game’s best player until that point, after 65 minutes.
The tactical alteration was immediately effective.
Within two minutes, the hosts had the lead when Edgar Bruno headed in Dawood Ali’s left-wing cross.
Zeljko Petrovic, the Shaab manager, was fulsome in his praise of the endeavor of his players.
But he fears his meagre resources are now being stretched to their limit as they battle to avoid the drop.
“Our mentality and effort was perfect, but we missed Michael,” Petrovic said of the early loss of N’dri.
“Every game is a difficult game for us and today we lost against a better team.
“My only preoccupation is that I only have one striker – Michael. If something happens to him, we might as well all go home.
“I hope it isn’t a big injury because it will be problematic if we are without him.”
pradley@thenational.ae
OTHER RESULTS
*
SHARJAH 3 DUBAI 0
*
It took until the second half to break down a stubborn Dubai, but Sharjah came out on top with a 3-0 win.
Yousif Saeed Juma and Ahmed Khamis’ goals plus a Salem Khamis penalty handed victory to the hosts, moving them level on 33 points with Al Jazira.
Dubai remain in last place on just nine points.
Sharjah got their noses in front in the second half, taking the lead in the 73rd minute through Juma. Six minutes later Sharjah were awarded a penalty after Ali Al Dhaheri felled Omar Juma in the area, and Salem Khamis stepped up to convert a confident spot kick.
Ahmed Khamis completed the scoring with Sharjah’s third, overcoming several blocks before squeezing a finish into the net from close range.
*
*
AL WASL 0 AJMAN 1
*
Waheed Ismail and the Al Wasl defence did their best to frustrate but Mansour Mohamed Abbas’s goal at the 37th minute gave all three points to the visitors on Friday night.
*
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FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
MOTHER%20OF%20STRANGERS
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Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Company name: Big Farm Brothers
Started: September 2020
Founders: Vishal Mahajan and Navneet Kaur
Based: Dubai Investment Park 1
Industry: food and agriculture
Initial investment: $205,000
Current staff: eight to 10
Future plan: to expand to other GCC markets
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
The biog
Hobbies: Writing and running
Favourite sport: beach volleyball
Favourite holiday destinations: Turkey and Puerto Rico
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Awar Qalb
Director: Jamal Salem
Starring: Abdulla Zaid, Joma Ali, Neven Madi and Khadija Sleiman
Two stars
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
