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Abu Dhabi: In a thrilling and exciting encounter, Al Jazira defeated Al Wasl 3-2 in a "sudden death" style to become joint leaders of the UFL with seven points from three matches and a better goal difference than Al Ain and Al Wahda, who have collected the same tally.
The match was a mainly one-sided-affair in the first half with Al Jazira dominating the action but failing to have a fruitful end to their attacking moves as Brazilians Rafael Sobis and Fernando Baiano squandered easy chances until the 17th minute when referee Mohammad Omar gave the team a penalty after Waheed Esmail, the Al Wasl defender, fouled Ahmad Dada inside the box following a spectacular solo run in which he went past four defenders.
Baiano converted correctly but went on to squander two easy chances that came his way from Ebrahima Diyaki and Sobis.
Alexander Oliveira, Al Wasl's Brazilian striker was the only threat to the home team, not only in the first half but in the whole match and after the break he was awarded a penalty following a foul with Rashid Abdul Rahman. Eisa Ali scored from the spot the equaliser in the 61st minute.
The two teams played a more open game in their quest to win the three points and both coaches, Braga of Al Jazira and Horack of Al Wasl, used their substitutes to win the match and their changes were successful as both Abdullah Qasim for Al Jazira and Waleed Murad for Al Wasl scored only minutes after their introduction into the match.
Fierce header
Qasim, who replaced Dada in the 78th minute, needed five minutes to score his team's second goal following a long pass from Abdul Salam Juma which was headed by Baiano to Qasim to place home while Murad, who replaced Khalid Darwish in the 85th minute, needed six minutes to score the goal of the week. Eman Mobali sent a high ball inside the box, Murad chested and with a half-circle he shot a bicycle kick into the far corner of the goal one minute before the end of the match.
But the jubilation of the visiting fans was short-lived as Baiano headed the winner three minutes later following a combination with his other two countrymen.
Sobis sent a flag kick to Rozario who headed to Baiano who sent a fierce header into the net for the fatal goal that not only sent his team's fans into wild celebration, but sent one of them to hospital.
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