Josip excels Cosmin inside the box, Al Ain notches up a win at Al Ahli’s own ground
In an exciting encounter, ‘Amouri’ and Caio secured their side a 2-1 win over Al Ahli at Round 16 of the Arabian Gulf League today evening.
After a scoreless half, Omar Abdurrahman gave his side the lead at 51st minute, but the hosts managed to catch up thanks to Saeed Jassem at 87th minute. It was Al Ain’s Brazilian Caio Lucas who scored the go-ahead goal to break the tie and give a win to his side.
The win added 3 points to Al Ain’s tally to become 34 points placing it second in the table, while Al Ahli dropped to 4th position with 32 points.
The encounter started so powerfully that Al Ahli’s Romanian manager Cosmin Olăroiu was obliged to replace his injured player Issa Santo with Mohamed Sabeel just 5 minutes after the kickoff.
The first half saw several attempts by both teams but marked no goal; instead, 2 yellow cards were shown to Lee Myung-Joo and Waleed Abbas of Al Ain and Al Ahli respectively.
In 2nd half, Al Ain controlled the proceedings and put their hosts under pressure that resulted in opening the scoreboard by Omar Abdurrahman who cleared the ball from Majed Hassan inside the box to make his way skillfully to the net and score at 51st minute.
Al Ahli’s Waleed Hassan was shown 3rd yellow card in the game for his deliberate harshness without having the ball. In 60th minute, Caio’s attempt at the goal missed its destination.
The hosts began to pile pressure seeking an equalizer; their first attempt by Ahmad Khalil was denied by the post in 66th minute. Their Majed Hassan was cautioned for a foul when he obstructing from behind Caio who was moving towards the net.
Al Ain’s Danilo Asprilla missed a scoring opportunity when his header was weak enough to settle at Al Ahli’s hands, Majed Nasser. Asprilla’s attempt resulted in his injury and replacement by Nasser Al Shamrani in 78th minute.
Al Ahli’s several attempts did not go in vain. In 78th minute, Saeed Jassem drew for his side through a header. As a result, Al Ain’s temp manager, Josip, sent in Amer Abdurrahman who was shown the yellow card just 1 minute later. Similarly, Caio’s attempts were not unfruitful; he secured the lead for Al Ain at the stoppage time when he received and took advantage of a pass from Al Shamrani ending the game 2-1 for Al Ain.
