Munir Rahouma (Dubai)
Al-Wahda caught more than one bird with one stone, defeating Shabab Al-Ahly 3-1, during the “18th round” of the “ADNOC Professional League”, as it ended a contract that lasted 12 years, 5 months and 5 days of negative results at Rashid Stadium in Dubai, and snatched three points precious, in addition to exploiting the “leader” eye “bump” and reducing the difference to 4 points, as the unit became the “runner-up” with 39 points.
“Al Annabi” scored his goals through the “double” of Joao Pedro in the 5th and 93rd minutes, and Omar Kharbin in the 85th minute, while the goal of “Al Fursan” by Marcus Olsen came in the 10th minute, to freeze his score at “point 30”.
The start of the match was exciting and enthusiastic in the first minutes, thanks to the early goals from the two teams, where the “Honest People” played with a complete squad, compared to the first leg of the League Cup semi-final, while the owners of the land missed the efforts of a number of stars, most notably goalkeeper Majed Nasser.
Joao Pedro scored from the fifth minute, but the Norwegian Thomas Olsen quickly responded with a equalizer in the tenth minute, to return the match to the “starting point”, and at a time when the public expected a high technical level, the performance of the two teams declined, especially in front of the great physical impulse of the players. The game was interrupted, and the first half ended in a tie.
In the second half, Al-Ahly youth imposed its priority on the level of controlling the ball and creating opportunities, in return for a significant decline in the performance and level of unity, especially after Ismail Matar left injured, and Mahdi Ali’s changes gave great effectiveness to the “Knights”, and he almost scored the second and grabbed the three points.
In the last minutes, the situation turned in favor of “Al Annabi”, thanks to the quick rebounds, which were translated by Omar Kharbin and Joao Pedro, so that Al Wahda scored two decisive goals in the 85th and 93rd minutes. The three points were awarded to the “runner-up” team in order to tighten Al Ain’s pursuit.