Al Jazira cruise past Sharjah to move clear at top

Al Jazira moved three points clear at the top of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) standings with a convincing 3-0 win over Sharjah at Sharjah Stadium in matchweek 18 on Friday.

The guests were already 1-0 up after 14 minutes only, as Khalfan Mubarak’s corner fell to Moroccan defender Mohammed Rabii who sent a fine header into the back of the net, scoring his first goal with Al Jazira.

In-form Ali Mabkhout got his name onto the scoresheet in the 36th minute to double Al Jazira’s lead and end his 465-minute goal drought against Sharjah in the league.

Al Jazira were reduced to 10 men when Abdalla Ramadan was sent off for a second booking in the 61st minute following a rough challenge.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Al Jazira netted the third goal. Mabkhout was at the center of action once again when he converted from the spot in the first minute of injury time to score his second of the night and raise his tally to 17 goals at the top of the goals-coring charts.

The win helped Al Jazira move to the top of the standings on 40 points, three above Sharjah who dropped to second place.

Al Jaizra coach Marcel Kiezer said they are ready for any challenge now after their win over Sharjah. They will face Shabab Al Ahli in the next game.

“I know we have a tough game in the next round against Shabab Al Ahli. They are a strong team and have good players in their line-ups but we are now ready to face any challenge,” said Kiezer.

He also predicted a tough game against Shabab Al Ahli, who defeated Khorfakkan 4-3, in a goal fest. Shababa Al Ahli are currently sitting at the fifth spot with 32 points.

“We know it is going to be very tough game but we are prepared well for the match and confident of winning it,” said Kiezer.

Meanwhile, Shabab Al Ahli earned a thrilling 4-3 victory over Khorfakkan at Rashid Stadium on Friday night.

After a number of good chances on both sides, Shabab Al Ahli broke the deadlock, thanks to Mohammed Marzooq’s fine header on the 20-minute mark. Only eight minutes later, Omar Juma scored the equalizer for Khorfakkan.

However, Khorfakkan’s comeback was short-lived, as Yousef Jaber regained Shabab Al Ahli’s lead off a long-range effort two minutes later to hand his side a 2-1 advantage ahead of the break.

Only one minute after the restart, Juma netted his second of the night to level matters once again.

Khorfakkan took the lead for the first time in the 76th minute, thanks to Paulo Melo’s effort. However, substitute Yahya Al Ghassani netted the equalizer in the 82nd minute to make it 3-3.

As the game seemed to be headed to a draw, Carlos Eduardo snatched the winner just one minute from time to hand Shabab Al Ahli three valuable points.

The teams are playing back to back matches to make for the time that was lost due to late start of the season amid pandemic. The season, which gets under way usually in July began in October after being postponed twice.