Dubai spring late surprise with President’s Cup win over Al Wahda

Early exit could jeopardise coach Sami Al Jaber's hopes of keeping Wahda job next season

Al Wahda’s Damian Diaz, left, challenges for the ball with Dubai’s Marzooq Hassan Ahmed during their President’s Cup match yesterday at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath K / The National

ABU DHABI // Al Wahda’s campaign for the 2014/2015 season came to an abrupt and disappointing end on Thursday night.

They were dumped out of the President’s Cup round of 16 by Division One club Dubai 4-2 in a penalty shootout after extra time finished in a 2-2 deadlock at Al Nahyan ­Stadium.

Dubai were on target with all four of their spot kicks while Jamal Abdulla Ali, the captain and goalkeeper, turned in a heroic performance by blocking the efforts by the experienced Ismail Matar and Mohammed Al Shehhi.

Sami Al Jaber, the Wahda coach, took the blame for his team's early exit.

“We committed a lot of mistakes in this game, but there were several reasons for the defeat,” said the former Saudi Arabia international, who replaced the Portuguese Jose Peseiro in February.

“We played four days ago and didn’t have much time to prepare for this format of the competition. Another reason was the poor refereeing. Several decisions went against us.

"But this is part of the game. So I take full responsibility for the defeat and congratulate Dubai for advancing to the next round."

Wahda were dealt a severe blow when left-back Ahmed Rashid was sent off for a second bookable offence six minutes into extra time.

“We played better in the second half, but losing a player at a crucial period made it difficult for us,” Al Jaber said.

Marin Ion, the Dubai coach, had clear plans to mark Wahda’s main players Sebastian Tagliabue and Damian Diaz, the Argentine pair, and the Moroccan international Adil ­Hermach.

“I knew Tagliabue from our time in Saudi Arabia. He is one of the best strikers in the UAE, so I had two defenders marking him in the first half,” the Romanian said.

“In the second half when we were trailing 2-1, I changed the strategy and played a 4-4-2 formation, and when Wahda were reduced to 10 players we had many opportunities to score but the game ended on penalties.”

Dubai drew first blood through Mohammed Al Zaabi in added time of the first half.

Wahda struck twice within two minutes on resumption through Mohammed Al Akbari and Tagliabue.

Dubai tied it up again when Essa Al Balooshi scored from a spot kick 11 minutes from full time to take the game into extra time.

“We knew Wahda are a strong side with quality in every line, but our strategy was to score on the counter-attacks, which worked well for us on the night,” Ion said.

The first goal came when Kesse Amangoua worked through several defenders from the centre of the pitch before slipping a pass to Al Zaabi, who fired it past a hapless Adel Al Hosani, the Wahda keeper.

A goal down at the break, Wahda went on the offensive from the whistle in the second half and an early Diaz effort from inside the area was blocked by the Dubai keeper, which left Al Akbari, who came in for the injured Mohammed Bargash, to tap in the rebound.

Tagliabue put them ahead two minutes later when he headed a Diaz cross from the right flank.

With just over 10 minutes left, Rashid felled Al Balooshi, who took the penalty himself to make it 2-2.

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