WEAH, DEBBAH PERFORMS
POORLY
AS AL AHLI DENTS JAZIRA'S TITLE HOPE |
Karimi powers Al Ahli
By Hisham Al Gizouli
Al Ahli 2 Al Jazira 1
IRANIAN pro Ali Karimi powered Al Ahli to a well-deserved 2-1 victory over
hosts Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Al Ahli led 1-0 at half-time.
Though the match was crucial for the hosts, they did not make any real
effort to live up to the expectations of their fans who were disappointed
with the below par performance of their players, including George Weah and
James Debbah.
With this result, Al Jazira remained with 34 points and slipped from the
first place to the third while Al Ain set the new pace with 36 points. Al
Wahda have advanced to the second place with 35 points. Al Ahli started the
match with the traditional defensive tactics of their Croatian coach Sreko
Juricic. Sreko placed one striker (Karimi) in the front and five midfielders
behind him while keeping four defenders to make a human shield in front of
the keeper.
Three strikers
Al Jazira played with three strikers, assisted in the midfield by three
players, and two defenders working on the flanks and at the same time the
defenders advanced with every move to operate even inside the territory of
Al Ahli.
As a result, Karimi thrust from behind Al Jazira defenders and tackled
international keeper Saeed Jumaa to put Al Ahli in the lead. The move took
place as early as the sixth minute of the first half. However, in spite of
the early warning sent by the Dubai side, Al Jazira's coach remained silent
and did not make any attempt to influence what was going on in the field.
Al Ahli took full control of the midfield and succeeded to closely mark Weah
and Debba and put great pressure on the striking capability of their hosts.
In the 40th minute of the first half, Al Jazira's coach pulled out Qassem
Mohammed and sent in Ayedh Mabkhot. At the beginning of the second half,
Tareq Eqab substituted Yousuf Abdul Aziz to activate the right flank for the
home team.
However, the hosts started the second half in completely different style and
shifted their operations to the defensive zone of the Dubai side.
Al Ahli's keeper Ali Saeed made some good saves particularly the bullet-like
strong shot fired by George Weah in the opening minutes of the second half.
In the 73rd minute, Eqab sent home a strong right footer to make 1-1.
Strong campaign
At this point, Al Jazira's hopes were revived and they led a strong campaign
to increase the advantage but all their moves were in vain. Less than two
minutes later, Karimi came with a strong run to make 2-1 for Al Ahli and
complicated to greater extent the mission of Al Jazira to win their first
ever dream title.
In Dubai, Al Nasr held their hosts Al Shabab to a 4-4 draw at Maktoum bin
Rashid Stadium and both sides remained in the dangerous zone of being
relegated to the second division. The result was 2-2 at half-time.
Defending champions Al Wahda kept their chances alive in the hunt for the
title with a 4-0 victory over home team Al Ittihad. Al Wahda led 3-0 at
half-time. |
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