Al Wahda 2 Al Nasr 0
Al Wahda Diaz 41', Diaz 81'
Al Nasr None
DUBAI // Before his arrival at Al Wahda, Damian Diaz played for a club called Barcelona, not the Spanish giants, but a somewhat more downmarket namesake in Ecuador.
Although if there had been fans of the famous Catalan club present at the Al Maktoum Stadium last night, they would have certainly applauded Diaz, especially for his second goal of the night, a brilliant solo effort across three-quarters of the pitch. His compatriot, Lionel Messi, would also have nodded his approval.
His first of the night was not bad either. A back-heel for a teammate was followed by a perfect header to give Wahda the lead against Al Nasr four minutes before the break and those two classy finishes helped the visitors inflict the Dubai club’s fifth defeat in 14 league matches, a surprising statistic for a team that shared third spot before this game.
“Maybe one of the reasons is our style of play,” said Ivan Jovanovic, the Nasr manager, about the high number of defeats.
“We are a team that wants to control the game and play attacking football. That means we take a lot of risks.
“Maybe that is the reason, we lose some matches, like we did tonight. Having said that, I believe today’s game, it does not have any similarities with our defeats from the past. This is one of the few games in the league when we have not created any opportunities to score. I am so disappointed with my team’s performance on the pitch.”
Jovanovic’s disenchantment is understandable. Fluent in their 5-1 win over Dubai last Friday, Nasr were expected to carry on their winning momentum from that game. Instead, Wahda took early charge and the hosts looked a bit ordinary, especially as Diaz won the midfield battle against Leonardo Lima.
Wahda’s strikers failed to utilise Diaz’s services very well and seeing that, he decided to take on the finishing responsibility himself. Back-heeling the ball for Adel Abdullah from a scrum inside the box, the Argentine playmaker moved clear and headed home as the ball came back to him.
For all his hard work in the first half, Diaz deserved his goal and his work-rate did not drop in the second half. He kept the Nasr defence busy all night and eventually got a second reward in the 82nd minute.
Taking possession of the ball well inside his own half, the South American dashed through, with Lima hot on his heels. But Diaz managed to stay just ahead, twisted past Mahmoud Darwish as he approached the box and took his time to place the ball past the goalkeeper.
Al Wahda’s coach Jose Peseiro did not single out his diminutive playmaker for any special praise after the game, opting to salute the efforts of the team as a whole.
“I never like to talk about a single player,” said the Portuguese coach. “Al Nasr are a big team and good enough to challenge for the title.
“They started well, but we were the better team in the first half. We created a lot of chances and in my opinion we should have scored more,” he said.
“Nasr were better in the second half, and had more possession and we were forced to defend.
“We didn’t hold the ball as much as we should have and that put a lot of pressure on us. But even then we managed to score.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
