"El Clasico" smiles at the eye... and the shield is approaching "Dar Al-Zain"
Lapa Kodjo scored the winning goal for Al Ain in the top of round 19. Photo: Eric Arrasas
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Al Ain expanded the difference between it and its closest followers, Al Wahda, to seven points, after winning a 1-0 victory in the match that was held at Al Nahyan Stadium in the capital, Abu Dhabi, at Al Wahda Club, in the presence of a crowd of 15,000 fans.
Al Ain owes this victory to Togolese Kodjo Lapa, who scored the only goal of the match just eight minutes before the end.
Thus, Al-Ain raised its score to 46 points, and approached great strides towards winning the title, while Al-Wahda's balance froze at 39 points.
The confrontation did not need introductions to reach the desired excitement, as Sufian Rahimi gave a positive impression after only two minutes from the start, as he received a pass from Laba and penetrated it into the box and hit the net from outside.
But the unit was a match and was also received with a signature attack, Fabio Martinez, who in turn distributed a ball to Joao Pedro's head, but defender Rafael Pereira was present at the right time and place, and removed the ball before it posed a threat to goalkeeper Khaled Issa "8".
Al-Ain came again nine minutes after the "Rahimi" attack, through a distinctive offensive sentence, which Arik ended with a tight shot, goalkeeper Mohammed Al Shamsi succeeded in turning it into a corner kick "13".
The Syrian Omar Khribin almost snatched the shot in the match, when he took advantage of Khaled Issa's progress and hit a tight ball, but the Al-Ain goalkeeper shone and removed the ball to the "17" corner.
One minute later, Khribin missed an opportunity to achieve a goal completely alone in the net, after a perfect ball he received from Martinez, but he put the ball at the end next to the right post.
The match continued to be open to all possibilities, with the preference shifting to Al Ain team in the 37th minute, which witnessed the most prominent intervention in the first half from goalkeeper Mohammed Al Shamsi, who denied the leader from scoring after he prevented Ahmed Berman from being alone in the goal.
The excitement continued in the second half, and Al-Ain almost advanced with Eric's shot, had it not been for the intervention of defender Aladdin Zuhair, who intervened at an ideal time to hit the ball in his body and turn into a "51" corner.
The two teams seemed more conservative after that attack, for fear of receiving a goal, so playing was confined to the center of the field for most of the periods, with the ball being in most periods between the feet of Al-Wahda players.
But the match was raised with the 76th minute, when the ball came in front of Guanca in front of the goal, and he hit a ground ball directed by Faris Jumaa for a corner kick.
The substitute, Tahnoun Al-Zaabi, responded with a shot from outside the box, which had goalkeeper Khaled Issa on the lookout and also removed it for a corner kick "79".
Laba attended at a deadly timing of the match, when he made his way with a clear individual effort, and hit an unstoppable ball that settled to the left of Muhammad Al Shamsi.
A minute before the end, goalkeeper Khaled Issa managed to preserve his team's lead by blocking Tahnoun Al Zaabi's shot from close range on goal.
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