ADNOC Professional League..a festival of goals for Al Ain and Al Wahda and a late draw for Al Jazira

Al Ain recorded a broad victory over Baniyas 4-0, Al Wahda beat Al Orouba 3-0, while Ittihad Kalba tied with its guest Al Jazira 1-1, in the opening of the ninth round of the ADNOC Professional Football League, today, Saturday.

At Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain recorded its second successive victory under the leadership of its Portuguese coach, Leonardo Jardim, at the expense of its guest, Bani Yas, after a match that was dominated from beginning to end.

Matías Segovia translated Al-Zaeem’s advantage with a first goal with great skill after he received the ball inside the box, and shot the ball from a difficult place past goalkeeper Fahd Al-Dhanhani (33), then Togolese Laba Kodjou added the second goal, before the same player returned to score the third goal from a follow-up. A rebound from the Baniyas goalkeeper (74), then he marked the “hat-trick” by scoring the fourth goal alone against the Baniyas goal (88). Laba took top scorers with 10 goals, one ahead of Al-Wahda’s Syrian striker, Omar Khribin.

With this victory, Al Ain raised its score to 13 points, jumping to fifth place temporarily, with two postponed matches remaining for it against Kalba and Shabab Al Ahly, while Baniyas’ score froze at seven points.

At Al Nahyan Stadium, Al Wahda did not find any difficulty in defeating Al Orouba, regaining third place after one round of losing it, after raising its score after this victory to 18 points. Omar Khribin, “the league’s top scorer,” opened the scoring for “Al Annabi” in the 34th minute, after a dribble and a low shot that landed to the right of the goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Ahmed Nour Allah increased his team’s lead with the second goal, following a rebound from the defense that he shot directly while close to the goal. Ibrahima Diarra strengthened Al-Wahda’s superiority by scoring the third goal with a distinguished individual effort (82).

The loss made Al-Orouba’s position in the standings more difficult after it remained in last place with three points.

A positive 1-1 draw overshadowed the result of the match between Kalba and Al Jazira, as the “Tigers” advanced with a goal through its Iranian star, Mehdi Qaidi, with great skill, after a successful dribble in front of Omar Traoré from between his feet, before putting the ball on the ground from under the international goalkeeper on the “17” side. In stoppage time, Al-Jazira received a penalty kick amid objection from Kalba players and goalkeeper Sultan Al-Mundhiri. Nabil Fekir succeeded in converting it into a goal, raising Kalba’s score to 12 points, while Al-Jazira fell to fourth place with 17 points.