Al Wahda booked a place in the semi-finals of the Arabian Gulf Cup after a 2-0 away win over Sharjah. They pipped Dibba on goal difference to take the second place in Group B behind Al Shabab.
A cross from Mohammed Al Akberi was stopped by the Sharjah goalkeeper Ahmed Rashid, but Sultan Saif scored on the rebound four minutes into the second half at the Sharjah stadium on Tuesday night.
Jorge Valdivia, who replaced Ismail Matar, put the game to bed when he curled in a free-kick to the corner of the net seven minutes from time.
Wahda midfielder Sultan Al Ghafri said the players repaid the faith of their coach Javier Aguirre. “We had several of our players out with injuries, national duty, or suspensions, yet our coach had trust in the younger players and provided them the opportunity to start,” he said.
Aguirre left out Valdivia and the Kuwait international Hussain Fadhel on the bench despite the absence of Argentine striker Sebastian Tagliabue and the Brazilian Denilson, who were both serving one-match bans.
Meanwhile, Al Wasl moved on top of Group A following a 4-1 triumph over Emirates. That left second-placed Al Nasr at the mercy of Al Ahli, who are a point behind with better goal difference and will play Al Dhafra on Wednesday night at the Hamdan bin Zayed stadium. At the Zabeel stadium, Al Wasl’s Fabio de Lima struck on the half-hour mark and the 56th minute. Abdulla Musa pulled one back but Edgar Bruno was on target twice in 10 minutes to seal the game.
Earlier, Dibba raised their hopes by brushing aside a second-string Al Jazira 2-0 to take their tally to 10 points before Wahda responded.
Faisal Ahmed and Boris Kabi were among the goals.
Al Shaab finally ended their win-drought after 17 matches with a 2-0 result over Baniyas, their third game under new coach Walter Zenga. Abdulla Al Jamhi broke the deadlock on the 51st minute and Chilean forward Matias Donoso rounded off with the second four minutes from time.
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