Al Wasl join the Blue Wave at Group A summit with 2-0 win

Players tackling for the ball during the Etisalat cup football match between Al Wasl and Al Shaab at Al Wasl Sports club in Dubai on Friday

 Al Wasl joined city rivals and reigning champions Al Nasr at the top of an embryonic Group A in the Arabian Gulf Cup following this 2-0 victory over 10-man Al Shaab at Zabeel Stadium on Friday evening.
Edgar Bruno Da Silva's first-half effort and Yaser Salem's late curler proved sufficient for Wasl to down their newly-promoted opponents, whose forward forays really rather lacked the requisite incisiveness over the entire piece.
Gabriel Calderon's men took an eighth-minute lead with a strike that was simplicity itself. With Shaab holding a dangerously high defensive line, Fabio Lima threaded a through ball into the acres of space in behind it.
Edgar Bruno set off in pursuit of the pass and soon found himself bearing down on Obaid Al Taweela's goal in a one-on-one situation.
He duly skipped past the onrushing custodian to open up the angle on an empty net and his low finish trickled home underneath Khalid Mohammed's last-ditch sliding tackle.
The early opener provided a timely fillip for the Cheetahs and they soon set off in search of more goals.
They could, in fact, have doubled their advantage just after the quarter of an hour mark, when Salem's right-sided cross picked out Hassan Mohamed for a glancing header that went just wide of the far post.
Wasl threatened again with 11 minutes left of the initial 45. Hugo Viana rolled a corner-kick along the turf for Lima, whose well-struck shot was cleared off the line by Celio Dos Santos. Shaab still hadn't completely cleared the danger though and an Edgar Bruno overhead kick sailed over Al Taweela's crossbar shortly thereafter.
For their part, Shaab had shown glimpses of attacking intent in the first half, yet their build-up play was all too often let down by a misplaced final ball or touch.
That predicament gave their Egyptian boss Tarek El Ashry plenty to ponder during the interval and he subsequently brought on Humaid Abdalla for Abdulla Eissa for the start of the second period.
Wasl certainly had to be wary in the early exchanges after the restart as Shaab's Matias Donoso and Michael N'dri - among others - probed away for an equaliser.
Indeed, on two separate occasions, the visitors seemed destined to level things up from well inside Wasl's penalty area only for some heroic defending to ultimately thwart them.
Lima and Abdalla both then spurned presentable opportunities at opposite ends of the pitch before N'dri was denied by Abdalla Saleh, who had earlier timed an impeccable intervention at the feet of Donoso.
The burly Chilean did eventually escape the attentions of Abdalla on the hour, although he blazed haplessly over with only Rashid Ali to beat from close range.
Such profligacy in front of goal hindered Shaab's quest to get back into this cup clash and Mohammad's sending-off for a second bookable offence signalled the end of their interest in this cup clash.
Second-half substitute Mohammed Khalfan couldn't beat Al Taweela having been played in by Edgar Bruno, although the rebound broke for Salem and he superbly curled in Wasl's second off the underside of the crossbar late on.
alex@khaleejtimes.com