The first round of the ADNOC Professional League revealed many strengths and weaknesses of a large number of teams, which began the preparation periods with contracts and deals through which the public expected to change the form of their teams. Al-Jazira and Al-Ahly youth were the most prominent, as Al-Jazira revealed wonderful foreign players and a clear Dutch artistic imprint, led by Dutch coach de Boer.
Shabab Al-Ahly launched a campaign to defend its title with an easy victory over its host, Ajman, who appeared at a modest level unlike last season, and it seems that the situation has changed with the change of the technical staff and the departure of its prominent star, Firas Belarbi. On the other hand, Al Ain succeeded in achieving a difficult victory over Bani Yas, 3-2, in a match in which the most important thing was to obtain the three points, in light of the high temperatures and humidity significantly in the current period, and in the same way, Sharjah succeeded in overcoming the Kalba ambush with a difficult victory. With a score of 4-3, in a match in which coach Kuzmin managed to return to the game with good reading and successful substitutions.
The most prominent team was Al-Jazira, which appeared in a distinguished technical way thanks to a continuous Dutch experience with the team for years, but it was new in relying on the defensive back to be the key to playing, with foreign players and a team that was the most dominant during the round.
Al-Jazira scored an important victory over its host, Al-Nasr, by 3-1. The “general” did not appear as expected, especially since the match was held in his stadium and among his fans, and he also renewed his ranks with many important deals.
The first round did not witness any draws, and Al-Bataeh was the owner of the biggest surprise after he returned from Al-Wahda Stadium with an important victory over “Al-Annabi”, to renew the recurring unitary crisis at the beginning of each year. Khorfakkan also succeeded in overcoming the surprise of Hatta, who appeared strongly, but lost to Khorfakkan 1-2. The Falcons, led by Spanish star Iniesta, did not succeed in returning with a positive result from Al Wasl and lost 1-0.
And «Emirates Today» monitored a question about the first round and the most convincing team in seven matches: «We shared the opinion .. Who is the most convincing team after the end of the first round of the ADNOC Professional League?». Four teams were monitored among the most prominent candidates for the title: Al Ain, Shabab Al Ahly, Al Jazira and Sharjah. The audience who participated in the vote, reaching 98 participants, chose Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahly teams with 27.6%, then Al Jazeera 24.1%, then Sharjah 20.7%.
Surprising levels
Technical analyst Khaled Obaid confirmed that «the start of the league was not at the level of ambition, especially after the preparation periods conducted by all the teams, and we expected that the start would be better than that, but in the end there was no convincing team except for Shabab Al-Ahly, the defending champion, and Al-Jazira, and it also comes Sharjah, who presented a better level than their Asian match. Khaled Obaid told Emirates Today: “The surprise was the Al-Nasr team, which appeared badly, and I do not expect that Adel Taarabt’s absence would be so impressive that the team would lose by three, and all Al-Nasr attempts were timid and without focus, and we did not expect this bad level.” He added: «Shabab Al-Ahly was the most organized and ready, and Sharjah also appeared at a better level, but it has not yet reached the required level. Unexpected, generally not a good tour and did not reach the level of ambition ».
To see the top scorers, the teams’ standings, and the results of Round 1, Please click on this link.
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