Al Ahli make their edge count over Al Wahda in contest of depleted sides

Al Wahda played with five of their regulars. Ahli had half their key players on national duty, but had their full foreign quartet available.

Al Ahli’s Mirel Radoi wins a header in the match against Al Wahda at the Al Nahyan Stadium. Ravindranath K / The National

ABU DHABI // Cosmin Olaroiu, the Al Ahli coach, said their opening game in the Arabian Gulf Cup provided him the opportunity to work on some of the grey areas of the team in the league games.

“We won with a lot of absentees,” he said. “It was good to provide the opportunity for some of the reserve players and youngsters. It was also a time to work on the mistakes in some of the earlier games.

“We controlled the game well in the first half. But in the second half we allowed them to come back for a short period and then regained control in the last quarter.”

Luis Jimenez opened the scoring and Carlos Munoz, with his first goal for Ahli, doubled the lead. Mohammed Al Shehhi pulled one back for Wahda but Grafite regained the two-goal lead for the visitors.

Ahli hit the woodwork twice in the first 12 minutes. Grafite’s early header off a corner crashed against the crossbar and then Humaid Abbas’s low shot from just inside the area ricocheted off the post.

Mohammed Sabeel floated a long ball that bounced off the Al Wahda defender Salem Sultan’s thigh and fell into the path of Jimenez, who took a first-time shot to put the visitors in front.

Munoz doubled the lead with a nice piece of work.

The Chile international chested a high ball and executed a looping shot over the Wahda goalkeeper Ali Al Hosani.

Sebastian Tagliabue back-heeled a pass for Al Shehhi to cut the lead but Grafite regained the two-goal cushion when he headed a cross from Sabeel, the third goal in the space of four minutes.

Ahli had half their key players on national duty, but had their full foreign quartet available.

Wahda, on the other hand, had only their two centre-backs, Hamdan Al Kamali and the Kuwait international Hussain Fadhel on national duty. Yet they fielded only five of their regulars including one foreigner, Sebastian Tagliabue, in their line-up.

“They were better than us because they won 3-1. I am not happy with the performance but this is football,” said Jose Peseiro, the Wahda coach.

REPORT CARD

Star performer – Luis Jimenez

With their midfield and defence severely weakened because of the absentees, he played a key role for his team in the middle. He controlled much of play for his team being in the thick of the attack and defence.

Underperformer – Mohammed Sabeel

The Wahda defender was in two minds on a long ball. He finally ended up taking the ball high on his left thigh for the alert Luis Jimenez to blast it to the back of the net on his follow through for Ahli’s opening goal.

Key moment

Ahli hit the woodwork twice in the opening 12 minutes. Had they been on target, they could have taken full advantage and put the game to bed early.

Al Wahda rating – 5/10

They could have fielded a stronger team but opted to give most of their fringe players the opportunity. With five of their regulars, including the only foreigner Sebastian Tagliabue, they were able to test the Ahli defence only on a few occasions.

Al Ahli rating – 6/10

They had their foreign quartet despite missing half their regular lineup on national duty for today’s friendly between the UAE and Australia. They were pushed back early in the second half but never looked like being beaten on the night.

The National’s verdict

Ahli came with a winning mindset to make up for some poor results in the Arabian Gulf League and did just that against what it looked like an experimental Wahda side. Ahli’s intentions seemed clear – to defend their title.

KALBA AND AL NASR WIN BY A GOAL EACH

Kalba had a bright start to their their Arabian Gulf League Cup campaign with a stunning 1-0 triumph over Al Ain at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium. Italian forward Danilo Petrolli scored the only goal from a spot-kick after a foul by Al Ain defender Fares Juma in the 66th minute.

In the other game, Ivan Trickovski scored a second-half goal for Al Nasr to edge Al Jazira 1-0 at the Al Maktoum stadium. The Abu Dhabi club travelled with their youngsters while Nasr had their full side other than Mahmoud Khamis and Tariq Ahmed, who are on national duty.

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