Their chances are great to compete for a championship title for the third time this season

A historic final awaits. If Sharjah and Al Ain qualify

  • Al Ain defeated Al Nasr 4-1 and are very close to the League Cup final. From the source

  • Sharjah conquer Al Jazira with a precious away goal. From the source

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Sharjah and Al Ain came close to playing an unprecedented historic final in the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup after the two teams won the first leg of the semi-finals, with the victory of the "King" away to Al Jazira with a goal without reply, while the "leader" achieved a great victory at home against Al Nasr by four goals to one.

Al Ain will meet Al Nasr in the second leg tomorrow at Al Maktoum Stadium, while Sharjah will face Al Jazira at Sharjah Stadium the day after tomorrow to determine the identity of the second team that will qualify for the final.

If Al Ain and Sharjah qualify for the cup final, it will be the first time in the history of UAE football that two teams meet in three finals in the same season, after Sharjah beat Al Ain in the Super Cup with a goal without reply, and the "King" repeated its superiority over the "leader" in the final of the President's Cup on penalties, and they become strong candidates to compete for a third title in the current season.

Regarding Al Jazeera's loss to Sharjah, Dutch coach Marcel Kaiser revealed that he is concerned about Khalfan Mubarak's injury, in the "Abu Dhabi Pride" match against Sharjah in the first leg of the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup, noting that he hopes that the injury will be simple and not miss the player for a long time.

Kaiser said in a press conference after the match, which ended with Sharjah winning with a goal without reply: «We had a frustrating moment at the beginning due to Khalfan's injury after five minutes, which caused a change in our plans for the match, and affected the team's return in general, and I hope that the injury is not strong because Khalfan made a great effort to return from a long absence due to injury and joining the national service».

He praised the performance of Ivorian Coulibaly, who participated instead of Khalfan Mubarak, and said: «substitute Coulibaly fought with his teammates, and I think it was not the best game for us in terms of our control of the ball, but we made some small chances against a good team like Sharjah».

He stressed that Al Jazeera's chances exist in qualifying for the final when the two teams meet the day after tomorrow at Sharjah Stadium in the second leg, and said: «When the first leg ends with a score of 1-0, the second leg is open to all possibilities, so we will go there and fight because I think this club deserves it and we will do our best so that the semi-final is great».

Al Hosani: We did not accomplish the task of qualifying for the final

Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani said that the 'king' did not accomplish the task of qualifying for the final of the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup, despite winning the first leg of the semi-final away to Al Jazira with a goal without reply.

Al Hosani said in a press statement that: «We played a great match and achieved an important victory, but we must present a strong match in the second leg the day after tomorrow, because we have not accomplished the task of qualifying for the final and the opportunity exists for the two teams, and for our part we need to focus hard in order to achieve a result that helps us qualify for the final».

"We focus on all the tournaments in which we participate, we succeeded in three cup tournaments, but we did not succeed in the ADNOC Professional League," he added.

He continued: «We promise to give everything we have in the second leg with a positive result that qualifies us for the final match».

On his save of the penalty kick shot by Ali Mabkhout, he said, «I have been successful in addressing the penalty kick shot by specialist Mabkhout, and I am happy with the victory of Sharjah, but as I mentioned the qualification has not been decided so far».