Al Jazira’s defensive woes resurfaced when they gave up a two-goal lead to settle for a 2-2 draw against Al Ain in their Arabian Gulf Cup opener on Friday night at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.
Mirko Vucinic and Thiago Neves struck first-half goals for the home side before Ryan Babel and substitute Saeed Al Kathiri scored for the visitors, who were without several first-team players away on national-team duty.
Vucinic beat the offside trap to meet a free kick chest-first on the bounce from Neves for a 25th-minute lead. The Brazilian added the second after exchanging passes with Vucinic in first-half injury time.
Babel was accurate with a penalty in the 65th minute after the Jazira centre-back Juma Abdullah was penalised for pulling Al Kathiri’s shirt in front of goal.
Al Kathiri headed Al Ain’s second when he beat the Jazira defence in the air to knock in Rashed Essa’s cross nine minutes later.
In a game played down the road in the capital earlier Friday, Sebastian Tagliabue had a hat-trick as Al Wahda twice came from behind to salvage a 3-3 draw against Fujairah.
The Argentine was on target with two spot-kicks and rounded off his efforts with a powerful volley in a game that had a player for each team sent off.
Abdulaziz Ismail, the Fujairah centre-back, received a straight red for a clumsy tackle on substitute Sultan Saif on the 68th minute. Salem Sultan, the Wahda defender, received a second yellow three minutes from time.
Hassan Maatouk put the visitors ahead on the seventh minute, smashing home a left-footer after Christophe Mandanne split the defence with a low cross.
Fujairah could have extended the lead further if Patrick Eze’s close effort had not hit the far post after a deflection off the hand of Wahda goalkeeper Fahad Dhanhani.
Tagliabue struck the equaliser from a spot kick awarded when Ismail Matar was brought down by Fujairah defender Waleed Al Yamahi four minutes before the break.
Fujairah regained the lead on the hour through a fine curling shot from Eze. The Nigerian consolidated the lead eight minutes later after exchanging passes with Mandanne.
Tagliabue fired home his second spot kick in the 70th minute, and Wahda capitalised on their numerical advantage to level the score, with Tagliabue completing his hat-trick with his volley on a cross from Saif five minutes later.
In Dubai, Al Wasl got the better of Al Shaab 2-0 at home. Edgar Bruno put them ahead in the eighth minute and Yaser Salem doubled the lead on the 88th minute, shortly after Shaab’s Khalid Mohammed was sent off.
apassela@thenational.ae
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