DUBAI: Al Ain and Al Nasr drew 1-1 in their Etisalat Cup match played at the Tahnon Bin Mohamed Stadium on Friday.

While Al Wahda defeated Dubai 3-2 at the Dubai Sports and Cultural Stadium in the other match. Al Ain, leaders of Group A with 14 points, looked to consolidate their position against their opponents Al Nasr with a win .

Al Nasr, third with 11 points needed a victory to put them at the top of the group. Thanks to the head-to-head matches between the two teams while a win was sufficient to take Al Ain to the semi-finals —the first leg game between the two teams ended in a goalless draw.

Both teams fought to get over the better of their rival

Al Wahda played their last match in the group stage taking on their counterparts Dubai at the latters’ Stadium in Al Aweer.

Al Wahda second position in Group “A” with 13 points and Dubai fourth with 4 points the match was just a foregone conclusion.

But Al Wahda were in need of full points to get the second best place at the very least, and had to wait and see the outcome of Al Ain vs Al Nasr encounter in the same round.

A number of international players missed the round due to national duties as they are joining the UAE National Team warm up in China in preparation for their match against Vietnam.

The players are: Mohammed Ahmed, Dawoud Sulaiman, Mohanad Al Anzy and  Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Habib Al Fardan (Al Nasr), Ismail Matar, Hamdan Al Kamali and Saeed Alkamiti (Al Wahda), Ali  Khaseif, Khaled Essa , Ali Al Ameri , Abdullah Mousa , Khamis Ismail and Ali Mabkhoot (Al Jazira), Mohammed Fawzi , Amer Abdulrahman and Haboush Saleh (Bani Yas).

Meanwhile, Al Ain’s top striker and Ghana skipper Asamoah Gyan has hit the right notes leading up to Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final against Cape Verde. Gyan appeared overweight and almost disinterested in his team’s first two Group B games against the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali, but the striker nicknamed ‘Baby Jet’ finally found his bearings against Niger last Monday.