Abu Dhabi: Al Ain missed a barrage of scoring opportunities to eventually lose the President’s Cup to Al Jazira 7-6 in sudden death in an absorbing encounter at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday. Both teams were locked at 1-1 at full time.
For the champions Al Jazira, Fares Mousa, Khalfan Mubarak, Jong Woo-park, Thiago Neves, Abdullah Mousa and Mohammad Jamal scored after Al Makbout shot was saved by Khalid Eissa at the start of the shoot-out.
While Brazilian Douglas, Omar Abdul Rahman, Rashed Essa, Esmail Ahmad, Lee Myung-joo were spot on target for Al Ain.
However, with Colombian winger Danilo Asprilla, capping up his disappointing evening with another shot of his being blocked by Ali Kaseif and with Mohanad Salem finding the bar, Al Jazira was the President’s Cup Champion for the third time. They had previously won the title in 2011 and 2012 season.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, presented the trophy to the winners.
Earlier, Al Jazira’s key striker Mabkout had put his team in the lead through a penalty conversion in the first session.
However, trailing by a goal, Al Ain came all cylinders blazing in the second session. They were all over the Al Jazira territory and goalscoring looked inevitable. The breakthrough finally came in the 64th minute. Colombian winger Danilo Asprilla, capitalising on a miscue, made a swift run down the right flank before unleashing a power-packed shot, which was well-blocked by an alert Jazira goalkeeper Ali Khaseif, but an overlapping Brazilian striker Douglas shot home on the rebound.
Khaseif, who was exceptional under the bar, may have not managed to stop that goal but he kept thwarting several attempts from Asprilla, including a brilliant side volley from substitute Ebrahim Diaky.
Then five minutes from shoot-out, Diaky again saw his grounder metres away from the goal, following a deflection from a defender, find the right bottom of the framework.
The conditions were extremely hot and humid, making it difficult for both teams to set up the early pace. The first quarter was mainly confined to a midfield dual with none of the teams creating serious threat.
In the 30th minute, Lee Myung-joo, who had been on the mark for Al Ain in the President’s Cup semis and the AFC Asian Champions League last 16, almost put the purple brigade in the lead. A well-crafted move from star playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman found Colombian winger Asprilla lurking on the right and the latter sent in a measured cross and Myung-joo’s shot was brilliant blocked by the alert Al Jazira goalkeeper Khaseif.
Then in the 33rd minute, a long-ranger from Omar found the bottom of the right vertical. The rebound too allowed Al Ain’s Douglas to take a shy at the goal, but he failed to direct his header to perfection.
Five minutes from time, Al Jazira managed to seize the lead but the framework came to Al Ain’s rescue. Mabkout played a give and take with Spaniard Angel Lafita before unleashing a powerful shot at the goal but only see it deflect of a defender and kiss the top of the horizontal.
However, Al Jazira was compensated for the misfortune as they were rewarded with a penalty within minutes. Mohammad Fayez brought down Mabkout inside the box by pulling the latter’s jersey from behind and referee Mohammad Abdullah Hassan pointed it out to the spot.
Mabkout, who himself stepped in to take the penalty, was too good to miss out on that opportunity.
The lady luck continue to elude Al Ain as their ace midfielder Omar just before the breather, again saw his shot, this time off a free-kick, find the top corner of the post.
