Al Ain first football team settled for a positive draw vs its guest Kalba Club in the first leg match of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup “ADIB”, as both teams managed to score one goal in the net of the other. This result came in the match that brought the two teams together on the pitch of Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, which was taking place through the first round of competitions of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup “ADIB”. So, deciding the qualifying ticket to the next round of competitions has been postponed to the second leg match, which is scheduled to take place on next Friday on the pitch of Kalba Stadium.
“The Boss” started the match with an obvious thrust on the forward line of play, so they managed to impose their hegemony on the majority of the match’s first half, while the guest Kalba Club was obviously reliant on the firm defensive style of play and its superiority in players’ number on midfield, so they can curb the danger of the Ainawi scoring attempts. Although the home team was successful in scoring the first goal in the guest team’s net in the minute of 30, the pitch referee canceled this goal after reverting to VAR technology, ruling that Abdoul Karim Traoré, who is the Malian defensive midfielder for Al Ain first football team, had committed a foul before taking the shot.
Despite being under pressure, the guest team Kalba Club took advantage of a defensive slip allowing Nemanja Jović, who is the Serbian left winger for Kalba Club, to open scoring giving his team the lead on the minute of 45. However, Al Ain Club refused to finish the match’s first half trailing behind its guest team, so Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba, who is the Togolese forward player for Al Ain first football team, managed to score the equalizer in the minute of 45+7 of the first half’s lifespan, as he took advantage of a precise pass from his teammate Alejandro Sebastián Romero Gamarra (nicknamed Kaku), who is the attacking midfielder for Al Ain first football team. With this goal Laba manged to reach goal number 200 in favor of Al Ain club over the club’s history of participation through the local tournament, and his fourth personal goal over three matches in the Cub and ADNOC Pro League.
Al Ain Club continued to impose its pressure on the forward line of play through the match’s second half by taking shots from different distances, even though all those attempts could not be transformed into goals. As for Kalba Club, its players were stationed on the defensive line of play with reliance on counter attacks. The head coaches of both teams made a series of substitutions aimed at boosting the forward style of play, yet the positive draw dominated the match until the referee’s final whistle.
With this positive draw, both teams postponed deciding who will be qualifying to the next round of competitions until the second leg match, which will take place in Kalba, where “The Boss” will be looking forward to return with the qualifying ticket and to continue its journey through the tournament’s competition race.
