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Jo Alves blow for Wahda as Shabab win

Abu Dhabi - Jo Alves scored the only goal of the game which saw 10 yellow cards and two red cards. Henrique Luvannor was sent off on 59 minutes and they were further reduced to nine men after Hassan Ibrahim was given marching orders in stoppage time.

Jorge Valdivia didn't quite have a dream Al Wahda debut as he saw his new side go down to nine-man Al Shabab by a solitary goal in the Arabian Gulf League at the Al Nahyan Stadium on Sunday night.
Jo Alves scored the only goal of the game which saw 10 yellow cards and two red cards. Henrique Luvannor was sent off on 59 minutes and they were further reduced to nine men after Hassan Ibrahim was given marching orders in stoppage time.
But that goal was enough for The Hawks to garner all three points and keep their unbeaten start intact. Al Shabab had defeated Al Sharjah 2-1 in their opening League fixture.
Meanwhile, Al Wahda, despite boasting the likes of Chile's Copa America hero Valdivia, suffered their first loss.
Al Wahda had begun well and tested Al Shabab with their first foray, just two minutes into the game. But Al Shabab goalkeeper Salem Abdulla did well to deny Amer Omar.
Al Shabab had a chance of their own a little later with Jo Alves coming close. He had a couple of opportunities to break the deadlock but couldn't find a way through.
But Jo finally managed to break the stalemate, four minutes after the break. Luvannor sprinted in and passed it to Azizbek Haydarov, who curled his cross in nicely and Jo did the rest.
Shabab were down to 10 men, 10 minutes later after Luvannor picked up a second booking for a foul on Hamdan Al Kamali.
Al Wahda sniffed a chance and came close to getting the equaliser with five minutes left on the clock. Valdivia set it up for Ismail Matar but the latter drilled it wide of the post.
Al Shabab ended the game with nine men after Hassan Ibrahim too received a second booking.