Abu Dhabi: Defending Champions Al Wahda’s hopes of retaining the Arabian Gulf Cup is virtually over after they lost 2-0 against Al Wasl at the Zabeel Stadium on Friday.
Portuguese recruit Helder Barbosa and Brazilian Fabio Lima sored a goal apiece for the winners in the first half.
Al Wahda faced a must-win situation going into the match as they had just one point in Group A. Nevertheless, Al Wasl took control of the proceedings right from the start and in the ninth minute, a left-footed attempt from Lima was well blocked by an alert Wahda keeper Adel Al Hosani.
Had Barbosa not delayed his shot in the 14th minute, Al Wasl would have been in the lead. Barbosa, left unmarked, latched on a long ball from Lima but the former’s delay in taking a shot at the goal allowed a defender to reach to it.
Finally in the 29th minute, the home team got the breakthrough. Hazza Salem’s cross from the left flank and Barbosa lunged forward to head home. Six minutes later, Lima showed his class with a curling effort to make it 2-0. He first played a give and take with Ahmed Al Shamisi, following a throw in and found the far corner of the goal with a curling left footer.
Al Wahda showed far more purpose after the change of ends but their forwards, especially, Argentinian Sebastian Tagliabue were well marked by the Al Wasl defence line till the end.
Tagliabue had an opportunity to reduce the margin in the 58th minute through a corner from his skipper Ismail Matar. However, the Argentinian failed to direct his header to perfection despite having an open goal in front.
The day clearly did not belong to Tagliabue and Wahda, as another header from the striker sailed over the framework in the 83rd minute. Lima then almost scored his brace in the 84th minute but his power-packed left footer went just wide off the far post.
Wahda could have salvaged some pride in the dying minutes, had the powerful header from substitute Khalid Bawazir gone in but Al Wasl keeper Humaid Abdulla blocked it on the goalline.
In another encounter, a brace of goals from Saleh Al Husain saw Emirates defeat Hatta 4-0 at the former’s home ground Emirates Stadium on Friday. Apart from the two goals by Al Husain, Argentinian Sacha Sebastian and Khaled Khamis scored a goal apiece to complete the tally for the winners.
