Al Jazira's ace  George Weah, 
had a 37th minute penalty saved in President's Cup final Loss

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.

 

Action from the President's Cup final between Al Jazira and Al Ahli. © Gulf News

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.