Lima scores brace as clinical Al Wasl prevail over Bani Yas

Fabio De Lima was on target twice as Al Wasl defeated Bani Yas 2-0, at Zabeel Stadium in matchweek 6 of the Arabian Gulf Cup Group B on Saturday.

Al  Wasl played an attacking brand of football right from the begininning. They nearly opened the score just 10 minutes into the game, when Humaid Abdullah found Salem Al Azizi with a long ball. The number 44 tried to finish the ball past Mohammed Al Hammadi with a caress, however, his lobbed effort was not enough and went just wide.

Al Wasl continued attack but failed to break the dead-lock as the score remained 0-0 in the first-half.

In the second half, the Cheetahs continued to be the more dangerous side, when Al Azizi sent a low cross towards Ghanim Ahmed, whose strike went inches wide off the left post in the 49th minute.

The hosts’ efforts finally paid off in the 67th minute, when Lima went up the right flank and sent the ball to Nasser Mahmoud who squared it back to the Brazilian, whose left footed curler nestled into Al Hammadi’s top corner.

Just three minutes later, Lima doubled his tally to make it 2-0. Haboush Saleh received the ball on the left wing and sent an accurate cross towards Lima, who converted into the back of the net with a towering header.

The win takes Al Wasl to Group B’s fourth spot with six points ahead of their heated clash against Al Wahda next week.

Meanwhile, Bani Yas dropped to fifth place with five points and will host Hatta in matchweek 6 of the Arabian Gulf League.

Meanwhile, the UAE Pro League has announced chances to the 2019-20 season calendar in the light of the UAE national team’s particiption in the 24th Gulf Cup of Nations taking place between 26th of November to the Dece.8

The changes were confirmed in a meeting held at the UAE Football Association’s offices in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.  The meeting was chaired by UAEPL board member and head of technical committee Abdulhameed Al Mestaka and attended by UAEPL CEO Waleed Al Hosani, representatives of the UAEFA, professional clubs and TV right holders. The new dates for competitions announced at the meeting are as follows:

Matchweek 8 of the Arabian Gulf League will take place on Dec.10 & 11, followed by Matchweek 9 on the 14th and 15th of the month and Matchweek 10 on the 19th and the 20th.

Matchweek 11th is scheduled for Dec.27-28 while Matchweek 12 takes place on Jan.1 and 2, 2020 and the first half of the league season concludes with Matchweek 13 on Jan.23r-24.

The UAE President’s Cup saw changes starting with the round of 16 which has been scheduled to Dec.23 and 24. The quarter-finals will take place on Feb.21-22, semi-finals on March 16 while April30, 2020 has been proposed as the provisional date for the final pending confirmation from relevant parties.

In the Arabian Gulf Cup, the modified calendar sees Matchweek 6 played on Nov.22-23, followed Matchweek 7 on the Nov.28-30.

The quarter-finals will be played on the Dec.6, while the semi-finals take place on Jan.9, 2020. The competition’s final takes place on Jan. 17, 2020.

UAE PL board member and head of technical committee, Al Mestaka, said the UAEP was keen to meet with all stakeholders including the UAEFA, clubs and TV channels, in order to review and discuss all proposals based on the UAE national team’s involvement in the 24th Gulf Cup of Nations.

“We faced many difficulties to be able to re-schedule the season calendar, especially in postponing Matchweeks 8, 9 and 10 of the league and the President’s Cup round of 16 and finding alternative dates,” said Mestaka.

“The fact the AFC has rescheduled the round of 16 of the 2020 AFC Champions League to take place in May instead of June was also a challenge, and so were the Arab and Asian championships in which our clubs and national teams are involved in. As a result, we had to undertake a thorough evaluation of the new situation and study all possible solutions. The dates proposed and agreed in today’s meeting were considered the most suitable for all parties.”