Into the channels: 19/12/2014

Al Wasl 2 - 4 Al Jazira

In this Friday afternoon clash between teams from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it was the squad of Al Jazira that caught the eye. Of course it would - they're owned by Sheikh Mansour. Although Al Wasl's Brazilian trio (Ederson Alaves, Caio Correa and Fabio Lima) caught the eye, they were outgunned by a line up containing young Argentinian Manuel Lanzini (signed, surprisingly, from River Plate), not-yet-totally-past-it Montenegro captain Mirko Vucinic (formerly at Roma and Juventus), Brazilian Jucilei, and Burkina Faso international Jonathan Pitroipa. No other side in the Arabian Gulf League this year contains any players as exciting as these, although honourable mentions go out to record championship winners Al Ahli (Grafite and Hugo Viana), Asamoah Gyan-toting Al Ain, and second bottom side Fujairah SC (whose team contains Algerians Hassan Yebda and Madjid Bougherra).

Jucilei (in black and white) heads in an early cross from Sultan Al-Sowaidi

Lanzini seeks to extend the advantage, forcing the Wasl keeper to leap to his left at the last moment

Another free kick from Lanzini, this time from 10m further out, is well claimed by the keeper

Waheed Ismail's second yellow card after 33 minutes suggested a miserable afternoon for the Ultras Junoon (yes, Al Wasl have ultras)

As well as being - according to Wikipedia - the only Emirati team to have ultras, Al Wasl were managed by Diego Maradona between May 2011 and July 2012. A private jet came with the job.

Pitroipa really should have made it 2-0 with this opportunity, but failed to hit the target

Mirko Vucinic scored just before half time - but was in an offside position in the build up, so it didn't count

A Vucinic handball, and a penalty from Ederson, and the game is tied just before half time. Which wasn't a fair reflection of the play: it was only through the Ederson and Fabio Lima, who only had two feet between them, that Wasl had produced anything other than very frustrating, stilted play. But hey, that's what you get for being scared and looking away when the ball is coming towards you.

Dubai's Zabeel Stadium

A poor finish from Caio Correa prevented Wasl from surging into the lead immediately upon play being resumed...

Correa took his second chance, though, seizing upon an awful pass from an Al Jazira player to his goalkeeper, touching it past the unfortunate goalie before lunging in to make it 2-1

Al Jazira would go top with a win today, but if they threw away a lead against 10-man Al Wasl, there would be visa confiscations all round. Or something.

Straight from a goal kick, Jonathan Pitroipa's cross was blocked

 Jazira were wasteful in attack, but even more wasteful in defence.

In a similar fashion to Caio Correa's goal, a great Wasl chance comes from a visiting defender being dispossessed

Mirko Vucinic is standing in a great position to side-foot home a simple, badly defended cross: it's his 16th of the season

The very, very left-footed Fabio Lima should have restored Wasl's advantage, but his toe-poke was too soft to evade the keeper

A lovely pass from Lanzini finds Pitroipa, who tucks it into the back of the net: 2-3

Ali 'Actually from UAE' Mabkhout's goal is even better, cutting inside the Wasl defence, then poking it around the goalkeeper, and running around the other side to collect the ball again and tap it home after 73 minutes

Vucinic hits the bar in the 85th minute

Lanzini skims the bar from the goal-line in the 87th minute

Al Jazira were lucky to win this match despite some very sloppy defensive play. It was nice to see that Manuel Lanzini is making a good go of the Arabian Gulf League - he'll probably be in a big European league before too long. Having him and Jonathan Pitroipa in the squad certainly seems to suit Mirko Vucinic, who at only 31 still has quite a few opportunities ahead of him to take his shorts off in celebration.