Haydarov Azizbek, No 7, of Al Shabab broke the deadlock in the Dubai derby on Saturday, scoring two late goals in a 3-1 defeat of Al Wasl. Hassan Alraisi / Al Ittihad
Haydarov Azizbek, No 7, of Al Shabab broke the deadlock in the Dubai derby on Saturday, scoring two late goals in a 3-1 defeat of Al Wasl. Hassan Alraisi / Al Ittihad
Haydarov Azizbek, No 7, of Al Shabab broke the deadlock in the Dubai derby on Saturday, scoring two late goals in a 3-1 defeat of Al Wasl. Hassan Alraisi / Al Ittihad
Haydarov Azizbek, No 7, of Al Shabab broke the deadlock in the Dubai derby on Saturday, scoring two late goals in a 3-1 defeat of Al Wasl. Hassan Alraisi / Al Ittihad

Late flurry from Azizbek gives Al Shabab victory over Al Wasl in dramatic Dubai derby


Paul Radley
  • English
  • Arabic

Al Wasl 1

Al Shabab 3

Goals

Al Wasl: Hadeed 36’

Al Shabab: Villaneuva (pen) 63’, Azizbek 88’, 90’

Red card: Edgar Bruno (Shabab)

Man of the match: Carlos Villanueva

DUBAI // Haydarov Azizbek thrilled his voluble UAE-based Uzbek cheer squad with a late double strike to settle an ill-tempered Dubai derby 3-1 in the favour of Al Shabab.

The fact Arabian Gulf League matches are continuing to run while the Under 17 World Cup is ongoing is not an entirely bad thing, on this evidence.

Laurent Banide, the Al Wasl coach, expressed his doubts over the fixture clashes in the lead up to this game, suggesting the football-supporting public might be spread too thin. There are some benefits, though. The UAE’s clubs have picked up some random, presumably temporary, fans.

For example, there were a raft of supporters beating a drum and waving Uzbek flags at Zabeel Stadium - in support of Al Shabab, naturally.

One of the most influential players for the team in green is Azizbek, an Uzbek midfielder who is a hero in his homeland.

They made a good noise throughout. Yet they had to wait until two minutes from the end for something to genuinely cheer about, when Azizbek latched on to a brilliant through-ball by Carlos Villanueva to net the winner. He then doubled his tally to give the away side all three points at Zabeel Stadium.

Al Wasl had gone ahead when Fahad Hadeed jinked inside his full back and fired a low drive from the edge of the box past Ismail Rabee Juma.

It was a virtually identical strike to the one the stocky right-winger had scored against Al Jazira earlier in the campaign.

But the match only really sprung to life as the hour mark approached, and it all centred around Shabab’s Brazilian striker, Edgar Bruno.

Shortly after he struck the crossbar with a towering header from the edge of the box, Bruno was shown red after sparking a melee in the Wasl goalmouth. The precise reason he was sent off was unclear, but only because the referee had such a broad choice of options.

In trying to score from close range, the striker appeared to connect with the face of Ahmed Mahmoud, the Wasl goalkeeper, twice. The second one drew blood from his lip. As his teammates ran to defend the keeper, Bruno swung an arm in the direction of Abdelfattah Boukhriss, the centre-back, before squaring up to Mariano Donda, the home captain.

He will be lucky if he is spared a lengthy ban. He had already escaped red in the first half for kicking the ball in the vague direction of a linesman when a decision went against him.

And yet all the furore did was embolden the side who were short-handed because of it. Within a minute of play resuming, Shabab had a penalty from which Villanueva shot his side level.

pradley@thenational.ae

TEST SQUADS

Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.

Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

LILO & STITCH

Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rating: 4.5/5

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

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Crime%20Wave
%3Cp%3EHeavyweight%20boxer%20Fury%20revealed%20on%20Sunday%20his%20cousin%20had%20been%20%E2%80%9Cstabbed%20in%20the%20neck%E2%80%9D%20and%20called%20on%20the%20courts%20to%20address%20the%20wave%20of%20more%20sentencing%20of%20offenders.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERico%20Burton%2C%2031%2C%20was%20found%20with%20stab%20wounds%20at%20around%203am%20on%20Sunday%20in%20Goose%20Green%2C%20Altrincham%20and%20subsequently%20died%20of%20his%20injuries.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%26nbsp%3B%E2%80%9CMy%20cousin%20was%20murdered%20last%20night%2C%20stabbed%20in%20the%20neck%20this%20is%20becoming%20ridiculous%20%E2%80%A6%20idiots%20carry%20knives.%20This%20needs%20to%20stop%2C%E2%80%9D%0D%20Fury%20said.%20%E2%80%9CAsap%2C%20UK%20government%20needs%20to%20bring%20higher%20sentencing%20for%20knife%20crime%2C%20it%E2%80%99s%20a%20pandemic%20%26amp%3B%20you%20don%E2%80%99t%20know%20how%20bad%20it%20is%20until%20%5Bit%E2%80%99s%5D%201%20of%20your%20own!%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

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Three ways to boost your credit score

Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:

1. Make sure you make your payments on time;

2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;

3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League quarter-final second leg:

Juventus 1 Ajax 2

Ajax advance 3-2 on aggregate

The squad traveling to Brazil:

Faisal Al Ketbi, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Khalfan Humaid Balhol, Khalifa Saeed Al Suwaidi, Mubarak Basharhil, Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi, Saeed Juma Al Mazrouei, Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Zayed Saif Al Mansoori, Saaid Haj Hamdou, Hamad Saeed Al Nuaimi. Coaches Roberto Lima and Alex Paz.

Day 2, stumps

Pakistan 482

Australia 30/0 (13 ov)

Australia trail by 452 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings

While you're here
Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final

Kashima Antlers 3 (Nagaki 49’, Serginho 69’, Abe 84’)
Guadalajara 2 (Zaldivar 03’, Pulido 90')

hall of shame

SUNDERLAND 2002-03

No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.

SUNDERLAND 2005-06

Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.

HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19

Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.

ASTON VILLA 2015-16

Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.

FULHAM 2018-19

Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.

LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.

BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66

MATCH INFO

Kolkata Knight Riders 245/6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 214/8 (20 ovs)

Kolkata won by 31 runs

Draw:

Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe

Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi

Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania

Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia

Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola

Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau