Dubai: Coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena has commended Al Wasl for their ethics and teamwork in returning home with full points against Al Wahda in their fourth round of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) late on Friday.
Goals from Fabio De Lima in the 14th minute and Ronaldo Mendes two minutes from the half-time whistle gave The Cheetahs a 2-0 cushion, but the home team managed to pull one back with new recruit Balazs Dzsudzsak scoring in the 82nd minute.
The result saw Al Wasl climb their way into third place with nine points, just behind Al Shabab and Al Jazira who are at the pinnacle with ten and nine points, respectively.
“I am proud of my players who played with a great team spirit. They fully deserve this victory and the three points. It is still too early to talk about the entire competition as all teams are good, and I always say that the beginnings are not as important as the end. We still have a lot of matches still to play,” Arruabarrena told media late on Friday.
“It was an intense match and we showed our character while winning three crucial points. In the first half we were good and we created a lot of chances and scored two goals. In the last 20 minutes, Al Wahda outplayed us individually and scored a goal. But we managed to keep it that way, and build on our win last week [against neighbours Al Nasr]. Now, we need to rest the players and keep on working to correct our mistakes and improve,” he added.
The Argentinian, however, insisted that the current bunch of players is a work in motion. “Despite the win and the performance, we should never think we have reached our best level. We will be in trouble if we did that. We always need to push ourselves and keep on improving,” Arruabarrena said.
Earlier in the evening, Al Shabab and Al Jazira had consolidated their positions at the top of the 14-team standings with contrasting wins. UAE national team striker Ali Mabkhout announced his return to form with a fine hat-trick as Al Jazira trounced Kalba 3-0, while Al Shabab had to play a game of patience before a Tomas De Vincenti goal in the 76th minute handed Al Shabab a 1-0 win against Emirates Club in Ras Al Khaimah.
Results
(On Friday)
Emirates 0 Al Shabab 1
Kalba 0 Al Jazira 2
Al Wahda 1 Al Wasl 2
(On Thursday)
Sharjah 2 Al Dhafra 1
