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Gulf News - Al Ahli won the President's
Cup beating Al Jazira 3-1 yesterday at Zayed Sports City in a colourful
match that expressed the feelings of appreciation of the UAE's youth to
the President of their country.
The match came as a festival under the theme of 'Zayed in Our Hearts' as a
gesture of gratitude to the unlimited support of the President His
Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan to the sector of youth and
sports in the UAE.
The event was a grand finale for the soccer season with both teams'
players wearing jerseys with the picture of the President on them.
The patron of the final, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy
Prime Minister of the UAE, presented the Cup and medals to the winners and
the silver medals for the runners up while congratulating both teams for
their efforts.
Al Ahli took the lead in attack in the early minutes. They tried their
luck in long range shots. Al Ahli tried this tactics through Hassan
Ali Ibrahim, Adil Abdul Aziz, who scored the golden goal against Al Nasr
in the semi final, and Ali Karimi. But Al Jazira's
custodian Saeed Jumaa was alert and made several saves especially from
Salim Khamis who performed on the right flank.
Being slow starters, Al Jazira came to the match fully only later.
They attacked their opponents through James Debbah, George Weah and
Hussain Suhail all had attempts at the goal of custodian Ali Saeed
who played yesterday his last match for Al Ahli. He will return to his
club Al Shabab now.
Ali Saeed came to the rescue of his team when Qasim Omar crossed from the
left flank, 16 minutes into the game.
Weah's header was brilliantly saved by the custodian before the ball
crossed the goal line. But two minutes later the same goalie erred when
intercepting a cross from Mohammed Hassan from the right flank but
Mohammed Qasim was on hand to clear first time.
Salim Khamis went into a raid on the right flank which missed the services
of Mohammed Salim, the Al Jazira's central defender who was suspended for
one match. ,Khamis sent a fierce shot that Saeed Jumaa blocked for a
corner with his fingertips, 32 minutes into the first half.
Five minutes later, Rasheed bin Mahmoud returned the ball to Hassan Ali
whose fierce shot from the edge of the penalty box touched the bar. Hassan
missed again another sitter, one minute before the break, when his shot
flew just over the bar following a shot from Khamis which was blocked by
Saeed Jumaa.
Both Jurcic Srecko, the Croatian coach of Al Ahli, and Jan Versylgn, the
Dutch coach of Al Jazira, made changes after the breather hoping to
strengthen their attacking forces. Faisal Khalil came in Ahli's forward
lineup while Tarig Ogab was introduced by Al Jazira.
Khalil was soon at the helm of action leading a fast counter attack, 13
minutes after the interval. His shot was blocked by Jumaa for a corner.
The flag-kick was taken by Abdul Aziz whose cross was headed away by Ridha
Abdul Hadi on the path of Qasim, Ahli's libero, who headed back to Karimi.
The gifted Iranian striker shot home from inside the six yard area for
Ahli's first goal.
Al Jazira pressed forward deserting their defensive approach and caution.
They were rewarded 9 minutes later when Debbah led a fast attacking move
with two Ahli defenders failing to stop him. He found no difficulty in
levelling the score with only the custodian to beat.
Khalil proved to be the best winning card Srecko had up his sleeve as he
led another fast attack only to be fouled by Ogab inside the penalty box,
27 minutes into the second half. Bin Mahmoud converted correctly for Al
Ahli's second goal.
The referee Farid Ali awarded Al Jazira a controversial penalty when Ogab
was brought down by defenders inside Al Ahli's box. It was doubtful a
dive.
Weah shot with overconfidence from the spot, 11 minutes before the end, as
Ali Saeed saved miraculously.
Weah, who scored three goals in extratime or dying moments to help Al
Jazira to reach the final, was the one who deprived them the equaliser.
Al Jazira kept on pressing forward but Al Ahli relied on counter attacks.
Khalil two minutes into injury time, found himself face to face with
Saeed Jumaa, the Al Jaizra's goalkeeper.
Jumaa came outside his box to foul Khalil and earned a red card. Khalaf
Salim, the libero became the new custodian, as his team had used all
their three substitutions earlier.
He saved two chances before failing to save from a last fast effort from
Khalil who added his team's third goal in the 49th minute.
It was Al Ahli's fifth Cup in as many finals while Al Jazira who reached
the final for the first time showed great improvement and progress that
occurred to the team recently as they finished second in the league for
the first time and reached their first Cup final.
Their young players have a bright future in the next few seasons.
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