The Emirates American Football League (EAFL) will kick off its regular season on Friday with the country’s four senior teams all taking part at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai.
The Dubai Barracudas will take on reigning champions Dubai Stallions at 3pm in a repeat of the 2015 Desert Bowl, while the Abu Dhabi Wildcats will face the Al Ain Desert Foxes at 6pm.
It will be the first chance for American football fans to catch some action since the season curtain-raising Turkey Bowl two weeks ago, which saw the Dubai Barracudas beat Abu Dhabi Wildcats 15-0 at Dubai Sports City.
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The showpiece game was initially dominated by the two defences but the Wildcats, two-time Desert Bowl champions, were eventually breached by last year’s runners up, with Barracudas quarterback Zavier Cobb and tight end Rich Stead combining effectively throughout.
“I am pleased with the effort and energy we showed,” Barracudas coach Johnson said. “Guys came in and played for the first time or in unfamiliar roles and did a job for us, that’s what a team is all about. We’ve forced three turnovers but committed two ourselves, so we need to clean that up.”
It was disappointing start to the season for Wildcats coach Tony Robinson, who is a former Georgia Tech defensive tackle.
“There’s always a feeling out process at the start of a campaign, especially when you have new personnel playing in new positions,” he said. “It’s not the result we came here for, but we’ll go back to work to get better. We had a lot of people play out of position today and were just short on some numbers at key positions.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
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