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Abu Dhabi: Al Shabab won the etisalat First Division League after Al Jazira drew their match on Wednesday night at home. The goalless draw gave the visitors a very valuable single point, which was enough for them to secure the title.
It is Al Shabab's third league title, the earlier two coming in 1989-90 and 1994-95. Ironically, their last league title was also won at the same venue against the same opponents.
The match started in ideal conditions with thousands of enthusiastic fans, who came to the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium hours before the kick-off, displaying the black and white colours of Al Jazira and the green of Al Shabab.
Both Ladislau Boloni, the head coach of Al Jazira, and Toninho Cerezo of Al Shabab applied the same 4:3:3 strategy, which changed to 3:5:2 and 5:3:2 according to the run of play.
Though both teams played attacking game, they maintained a solid and organised defence, which forced them to take long shots at the goal.
Ali Khaseef of Al Jazira and Esmail Rabie of Al Shabab also were equal to the task with some excellent goalkeeping.
Due to the absence of Saleh Obaid, the home team switched wingback Ahmad Dada to the right, which had a negative impact on their team's capabilities to break through their opponents lines.
After a fast and entertaining session, the first half ended barren, but more significantly it brought Al Shabab closer to the title.
However, the hosts controlled the second session and went all out for the attack in search of the winning goal, while Al Shabab were content in defending.
Boloni replaced the midfielders and defenders with trump cards Dada, Sultan Al Minhali and Abdullah, while Cerezo went the other way in replacing the strikers with defenders.
Al Shabab, Al Jazira and Al Ahli, in addition to the one between Al Ain and Sharjah, will play in the Asian Champions League next season.
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