Fujairah made Al Ain’s march toward the Arabian Gulf League title look a little less inevitable on Thursday, winning 1-0 at home and bringing cheer to other championship hopefuls.
Boubacar Sanogo struck after 65 minutes for Fujairah, taking a pass from Lebanese midfielder Hassan Maatouk and finishing past Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Essa for his seventh league goal of the season.
Al Ain entered the match unbeaten in their last 12 AGL matches, a run dating back to October 5, when they lost 4-3 away to Al Jazira.
They welcomed Asamoah Gyan back into the fold after his extended run with Ghana at the African Cup of Nations, giving them a nearly full-strength squad, save for the absence of playmaker Omar Abdulrahman.
The loss squandered the game Al Ain had in hand, leaving them level with joint-leaders Jazira on 36 points after 16 matches.
Their focus turns to the Asian Champions League (ACL), where they host Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, AGL champions Al Ahli slumped to another disappointing result with a 0-0 draw at Ajman. Ahli rolled out an attacking unit featuring Everton Ribeiro, Luis Jimenez, Ismail Al Hammadi, Habib Fardan and Ahmed Khalil but could not find a way past Ajman keeper Mutaz Abdullah. While Ajman stayed second-bottom in 13th place, Ahli moved up a spot to sixth.
They open their ACL campaign on Wednesday against Al Ahli, their namesakes from Saudi Arabia.
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