Al Ain: A brace of goals from Brazilian Jo saw Al Shabab rally from a goal down to hand hosts Al Ain a shock 2-1 defeat in the Arabian Gulf Cup at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Friday. Al Ain led 1-0 at half time through a strike from South Korean Lee Myung.
Al Shabab would have shot into the lead as early as in the 10th minute, had it not been for the framework. A cross from the right found an unmarked Jo who set it for the overlapping Henrique Luvannor, whose attempt found the right bottom of the vertical.
After surviving that early scare, Al Ain kept gaining in confidence and conducted a series of raids but the Al Shabab defence were up to the challenge. Al Ain’s Saeed Al Katheiri, who was very impressive in the opener against Al Jazira, missed an easy opportunity to put the team in the lead as his feeble left footer didn’t have the power to breach Al Shabab’s last line of defence.
It then needed a blunder from Manei Mohammad Ali to put Al Ain in the lead in the 40th minute. Al Katheiri latched on to an aimless back pass from Ali and set it up for Myung, who then beat the lone Al Shabab goalkeeper and captain Salem Abdullah Rashid with ease.
Al Shabab showed far more purpose after the change of ends and the inclusion of Chilean Carlos Andres Villanueva in place of Ali completely changed the course of play.
Villanueva was simply exceptional with his through pass and kept finding both Brazilians Alves and Luvannor at will. In the 67th minute, Villanueva found Daood Ali Shanbih with a clinical through but the latter ended up shooting it over the crossbar. Villanueva was furious after seeing Shanbih miss that opportunity but in the very next minute, he was again in the thick of things.
This time taking the onus on himself, Villanueva burst through the Al Ain defence with a solo effort and then found an unmarked Jo with a cross on the turn. All that Jo needed to do was nod it home.
Al Ain’s Ryan Babel came close to scoring when his curling free-kick dipped in sharply in the 83rd minute but an alert Al Shabab custodian Rashid did well to keep it out. Then five minutes from time, Al Shabab made it 2-1 after Jo headed home from a measured cross from the right by Shanbih.
Earlier in the Group B fixture, Fujairah handed Sharjah a 3-1 defeat to increase their points tally to four points from two matches.
Hosts Fujairah took an early 2-0 lead after Khalil Khameis provided the breakthrough as early as in the seventh minute and Omar Ali doubled it four minutes later, scoring from a corner. Fujairah held on to the lead into the break despite also seeing a penalty saved by goalkeeper Mohamed Yousif. The margin for Sharjah was reduced by Wanderley soon after the change of ends.
Also defending Arabian Gulf Cup champions Al Nasr were held to a goalless draw in the Dubai derby by Al Wasl in the Group A fixture at the Al Maktoum Stadium. The match saw a late red card for Abdulla Saleh of Al Wasl and both sides now have four points from two matches.
