Al Ahli 2 Al Nasr 2
Al Ahli Khalil 24', Assaidi 58'
Al Nasr Juma 69', Khamis (pen) 78'
Man of the match Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr)
DUBAI // Just when Al Ahli threatened to finally stir, they encountered another, potentially defining, blow.
The Dubai club have staggered through their Arabian Gulf League title defence, marooned mid-table and drifting towards a hugely disappointing finish.
Questions have been raised concerning the club’s winter transfer policy, that the squad has been deprived of a truly top-class striker to fire a side that has amassed the second fewest goals among the division’s top 10. The motives of coach Cosmin Olaroiu had been queried, as well, so too the motivation of his players.
Yet, slowly but surely, Ahli had begun to climb back from the precipice. In five matches spread across all competitions, they had gleaned four victories, including a reinvigorating triumph in the rescheduled Super Cup. Last week, came a revitalising success in the Asian Champions League. Perhaps all was not lost, after all. Confidence had been rebuilt, hopes of a top-four finish, however faint, retained.
Then on Thursday night, Ahli let slip a two-goal lead at home to Al Nasr, and that familiar feeling returned. A disjointed campaign continued. Only once this season have Ahli strung together successive wins in the league, way back in mid-December. It is a telling statistic.
They relinquished the opportunity to match that meagre achievement at the Rashid Stadium against Nasr, when goals either side of half time from Ahmed Khalil and Oussama Assaidi appeared to have guaranteed Ahli the points. The hosts had been comfortably the superior team, twice striking the woodwork and wasting a couple of golden opportunities.
The victory, and the chance to put pressure on those teams battling for fourth, seemed inevitable. But Ahli have seldom shown a champions’ resilience this term, and so they were soon pegged back.
In the space of nine second-half minutes, Hussain Abbas had headed home, while Mahmoud Khamis equalised with a penalty.
The spot kick, awarded for Kwon Kyun-won’s tussle with Brett Holman just inside the area, angered the Ahli supporters, and astounded a bemused Olaroiu. The Romanian, forever antagonised by match officials, sarcastically applauded the decision.
It may be stating the obvious, but a draw was not what Ahli required. As a result, they rose one position, to fifth, in the table, although they still sit seven points shy of fourth with only three rounds remaining. Ambitions of a late run, a potential inclusion in next year’s Champions League, are extinguished.
Just when Ahli threatened to stir, to jolt for one final push, they have taken a fateful step back. Momentum lost, the 2014/15 league campaign can quickly be consigned to distant memory.
Al Ain on the cusp of another league title
Al Ain could be crowned league champions for a 12th time on Friday night if Al Jazira fail to beat Baniyas after the UAE’s most decorated club routed relegated club Kalba 4-0.
Zlatko Dalic started with Asamoah Gyan on the bench as Jires Kembo-Ekoko spearheaded the attack.
He repaid his coach’s faith by scoring Al Ain’s second and setting up the third for Omar Abdulrahman after Miroslav Stoch opened the scoring with a spectacular strike at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
Kalba had a chance to reduce the deficit in the second period, but Papa Waigo’s effort hit the bar.
Substitute Gyan scored his 13th league goal of the season on 83 minutes to take Al Ain 10 points clear of second-place Jazira with three games left.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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