Sharjah 1 Al Jazira 1
Sharjah: Ze Carlos 90+4’
Al Jazira: Barrada 31’
Red card: Khalid Sabeel (Jazira)
Man of the match: Ali Kashief (Al Jazira)
SHARJAH // Al Ahli and Al Shabab beware. Al Jazira, slowly but surely, are sneaking up on them and so are Sharjah.
The two teams, battling for sole possession of third place, put up a mighty battle last night, playing at a frantic pace till the final seconds in one of the most exciting matches of the Arabian Gulf League season.
In the end, they had to share points after Ze Carlos struck the equaliser for Sharjah in the fourth minute of injury time, seconds before the final whistle, to make sure the home fans did not leave the stadium disappointed.
“It was a good game and two good teams played nice football,” said Walter Zenga, the Jazira manager, who was rather animated on the sideline after the last-ditch goal.
“Of course, we are not happy about receiving a goal in the last minute, but then we scored a goal against Ahli in the final second and we were happy back then.
“We had a chance to close the game early in the second half, but we couldn’t and we gave them an important emotional lift to fight back.
“In my opinion, the key moment was missing the penalty, because it was the start of the second half. Immediately after that, we missed a clear chance and those five minutes killed the game for us.”
The culprit on both occasions was the architect of many of their previous triumphs: Ricardo Oliveira.
The impressive Moroccan Abdelaziz Barrada opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a stunning pile-driver, but Oliveira missed a penalty and a pretty straightforward opportunity early in the second half.
“We missed a penalty in the cup match against Baniyas as well, so from now on, Barrada will take all the penalties for us,” Zenga said.
As Sharjah put their full might towards getting the equaliser in the exhilarating second half, Ali Kashief made sure nothing got past him, even after Jazira were reduced to 10 men in the 85th minute when Khalid Sabeel picked up his second yellow card of the night. But in the tense closing minutes, Carlos finally managed to put one past him.
“It was a tough match, as we expected,” said Paulo Bonamigo, the Sharjah manager. “We started well and created some good chances. But after conceding the goal, we slipped a little and they started playing better than us.”
Sharjah did make a good start, led by their captain Fellype Gabriel, who was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet in the sixth minute when his shot bounced off the post.
They continued to be the more threatening of the two sides, but it was Jazira who took the lead when Nelson Valdez guided a ball towards Barrada, who pounced at the opportunity.
To their relief, though, Oliveira failed to find the net after the visitors were awarded a penalty in the opening minute of the second half. Goalkeeper Mohammed Yousuf dived low to his right to block the shot.
That miss lifted the spirits in the Sharjah camp and they went on the onslaught, but Kashief did well to frustrate them in regulation time.
He made a great save in the 53rd minute and then Sharjah hit the post again in the 70th minute.
In the following seconds, Kashief made a couple of brilliant saves to deny the hosts.
Given the speed at which the balls kept coming at him, it seemed he was one man against 11.
He kept fighting till the final seconds, blocking Carlos twice in that fourth minute of added time, but the Brazilian finally managed to put the rebound home.
arizvi@thenational.ae
REPORT CARD
* Sharjah The hosts played their hearts out, looking a lot more aggressive than they have in previous games, and the point was deserved. 7/10
* Al Jazira The visitors from Abu Dhabi played second fiddle to Sharjah for most of the game, but they had Ali Kashief in goal. 6/10
* Man of the match: Ali Kashief (Al Jazira) The Jazira goalkeeper was outstanding on the night. If not, Sharjah might have had five on the board.
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MATCH INFO
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Borussia Dortmund, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%20Twin-turbocharged%204-litre%20V8%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20625%20bhp%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20630Nm%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh974%2C011%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Predictions
Predicted winners for final round of games before play-offs:
- Friday: Delhi v Chennai - Chennai
- Saturday: Rajasthan v Bangalore - Bangalore
- Saturday: Hyderabad v Kolkata - Hyderabad
- Sunday: Delhi v Mumbai - Mumbai
- Sunday - Chennai v Punjab - Chennai
Final top-four (who will make play-offs): Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
