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An unprecedented record 12th League title has shown Al Ain are ‘The Boss’ in UAE football. The Garden City club clinched their third Arabian Gulf League title in four years, last week, and what remains are the finishing touches with three games left.
This is a club which has a rich footballing history and records have tumbled along the way since those days in 1968 when a bunch of youngsters learnt the ‘beautiful game’ by watching British soldiers.
Al Ain are the most successful club in the UAE and their trophy cabinet at the Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium and the their new home — the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium — is stacked with a record 58 titles with the one arriving set to make it 59. It is not for nothing they are called the ‘Home of UAE Football.’
But the 59th hasn’t been an easy one though. It has been a path laden with hurdles but Al Ain have adroitly managed to leap past them. For starters, they began late because of their AFC Champions League commitments. It meant that they had to play catch-up as Al Wahda set the early pace.
Also, most of their players were called up for international duty and there were injuries along the way. Now, towards the back end, they also had to juggle with the AFC Champions League as well as the Arabian Gulf League. Their talisman Omar Abdulrahman was largely a peripheral figure because of injuries and even their ace marksman Asamoah Gyan too had to negotiate international call-ups as well as injuries. But then, coach Zlatko Dalic tactfully managed his personnel to bring them to where they are now.
And considering the circumstances, Al Ain brought their ‘A’ game to the fore this season. They haven’t been beaten at their fortress this term with 11 wins and a draw and have won 17 overall. Victories in the remaining three games will see them finish up with 20 wins from 26 fixtures and match Al Ahli for most wins and also the most points in a single season.
As far as personal milestones go, Gyan is on the threshold of overtaking former Al Sharjah and Al Wasl striker Anderson as the top foreign goalscorer of all time. After joining forces with Al Ain in 2011-12, the Ghanian ace has scored 95 until now and is just four shy of Anderson and five short of a century. That is indeed a tremendous achievement and that too in such a short time frame.
Meanwhile, it has been heartbreak yet again for Al Jazira. The Pride of Abu Dhabi were on course to adding a second League title to their maiden one in 2010-11, the same season in which Al Ain had battled to stave off relegation.
‘The Spiders’ kept in touch with Al Ain coming into the home stretch, but their sixth defeat at the hands of Bani Yas, signalled the end of their title aspirations. They had a frontline to match that of Al Ain with ‘Balkan Maradona’ Mirko Vucinic, the former Juventus ace skating his way to the top of the goalscorers’ chart. They also had UAE international Ali Ahmed Mabkhout as well as Jonathan Pitroipa, apart from Manuel Lanzini. Both Ali Mabkhout and Lanzini shone in patches though.
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