Al Wahda teach Al Ain a lesson

Thursday, Dec 15, 2005

By M. Satya Narayan, Staff Reporter

Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda were in a class of their own against AFC Champions League runners up Al Ain, winning the capital derby 4-1 in the UAE First Division Football League here last night.

Though Al Ain had to play with ten men from the 53rd minute onwards, it was clearly Al Wahda's night as the three 'M's of Al Wahda, Metrovic, Mattar and Morrito created many a magical moment to please the packed stadium.

After a 4th minute Esmail Mattar strike, Al Wahda turned on the heat despite missing a penalty when Al Ain keeper Moataz Abdullah saved off Metrovic.

The penalty came when Humaid Fakher seemingly handled the ball on the goalline following one of the many brilliant moves launched by Al Wahda.

Fakher was sent off and the already dominating defending champions took a vice-like grip over proceedings to score three more.

Soon after the missed penalty, Basheer Saeed's long throw-in found Morrito after a melee and the Angolan striker struck for a 2-0 lead.

However Ghareb Hareb came off the bench to add some pep to the disjointed Al Ain side and soon Ramy Yaslam headed home to reduce the margin in the 68th minute.

But after that it was Al Wahda all the way when another classy move resulted in their third goal.

Esmail Mattar passed to Abdul Rahim and the latter sent Haider Allo Ali through, who in turn crossed for Metrovic to do the rest.

Al Wahda sealed the game in the 79th minute when they unleashed another combined effort. Metrovic fed Mattar, who moved in and found Abdul Rahim Juma.

The lanky midfielder capped his fine display when he shot over the advancing Moataz to put the final nail in the Al Ain coffin.

Earlier in the first session, the match came alive in the very fourth minute when Al Wahda displayed their sheer class.

Morrito worked his way down the right flank and squared the ball to Metrovic. The Bosnian striker back-heeled the ball to Mattar and the striker made no mistake from close range. With Juma Khater out, Macala put Humaid Fakher to stick to Metrovic full time.

This did put the defence in a spot as the roving wing-back looked a bit out of place for most of the time he was in the centre policing Metrovic.

From Al Wahda's side, the Juma brothers of Salam and Rahim did well to keep a tight vigil on Subait Khater.

The early strike put Al Wahda in command and for brief spells in the first session they totally dominated their rivals, at times playing with a touch of arrogance.

However Moataz Abdullah did well to bring off two brilliant saves, one in the 35th minute to keep out a Metrovic volley and a minute before the break to thwart Abdul Rahim Juma's long-range shot.

Al Ain, who were playing with just one professional in Nwoha Onyekachi, came close through the Nigerian when he volleyed from the top of the box.

But Abdul Basith saved the shot and later came up with a double save to block Onyekachi's header and off the rebound palm away a Nasser Khamis attempt.

Then came the second half and after that it was almost a one-way traffic though the former champions did try their best.

Late in the game Al Wahda's Talal Abdullah was shown the red card after just four minutes on the field for a blatant foul on Ghareb Harib.

With this Al Wahda stay firm at the top with 25 points from ten matches while Al Ain have played two matches less but have only 15.