Al Nasr became the first side to book a place in the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-finals, and a scoreless draw on Monday with Al Wasl made the task more difficult for their city rivals.
Nasr took their tally to 13 points, four clear of challengers Al Shabab with one round left in Group A.
Wasl are on eight points. They meet Al Ain while Shabab play Ajman, both on Friday, to decide who joins Nasr.
“The result is good enough for us because we are in the semis now,” said Ivan Jovanovic, the Nasr coach.
Gabriel Calderon, the Wasl coach, lamented his team’s missed opportunities.
“We created chances until the end but were not fortunate enough to convert them to goals. All we can now do is to try to win the next game and hope for a miracle to take place,” the Argentine said.
Wasl’s Brazilian duo Ederson and Caio both came close to scoring, their efforts going agonisingly wide of the target.
Nasr had their share of chances, too. Yousef Abdullah, the Wasl goalkeeper, made a diving save to deny Brett Holman early in the game, and Ibrahim Toure’s sliding effort went just wide of the post at Al Maktoum stadium.
Meanwhile, Al Dhafra came from behind twice to clinch a 3-2 win at home over Emirates and set up a qualification decider against Baniyas on Saturday.
Youssef Kaddioui scored the winner in the 70th minute after Abdulraheem Jumaa and Saif Mohammed had cancelled out Emirates’s lead. The visitors had gone ahead through Jamal Ibrahim and Saoud Faraj.
Dhafra players breathed a huge sigh of relief when German Herrera’s effort from inside the area off a cross crashed against the post in the final seconds of four minutes of added time.
Ibrahim put the visitors ahead in the eighth minute, and Faraj put Emirates back in front after Jumaa had equalised for Dhafra.
Mohammed fired a second equaliser from a curling free kick from 30 yards before Kaddioui struck the winner with a volley from a long ball from Abdulla Al Naqbi for Dhafra to clinch full points and take their tally level with Baniyas on 10.
Their meeting with Baniyas in the final game in the group stage will decide who will advance to the semi-finals from Group B. Sharjah top the standings with 11 and meet Emirates on the same night.
In the other game last night, a stoppage-time strike from Abdulla Naser gave Al Jazira a 1-0 result over Kalba in Group A match at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium that had no bearing on the race for the semi-finals.
apassela@thenational.ae
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