Al Ain bounced back from their frustrating draw at Ajman on the opening night of the Adnoc Pro League season by thrashing Al Dhafra 7-0 at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
Kodjo Laba, the winner of both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards last season, led the charge with four goals for the defending champions.
It took just 11 minutes for Al Ain to open the scoring as Laba towered above the Dhafra defence to head home a Caio Canedo cross from the right flank.
The Togo international doubled the lead on 29 minutes before Ukrainian winger Andrii Yarmolenko fired in the third from inside the six-yard box to further stretch the lead six minutes later.
Laba completed his hat-trick two minutes before the break and added his fourth on 68 minutes. Danilo Arboleda and Sofiane Rahimi joined the party with a goal each in the final nine minutes to complete the rout.
Despite the emphatic victory, Al Ain manager Serhiy Rebrov was keen to keep his players grounded as they turn their focus on to the next game against Al Jazira on Thursday.
“It’s a great result but we earn only three points for the win,” the Ukrainian said. “We wasted a lot of time by celebrating every goal and I would like to stress on the players that this result is behind us and from now on we focus on our next game against Jazira.”
Al Nasr overcame Ajman 2-0 at Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai, while Kalba stunned Al Wahda 1-0 at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the other matches on the night.
Jassim Yaqoob Al Balooshi turned Jandir Breno Souza's cross into the back of the net for Nasr’s opening goal and Omar Juma struck deep into injury time to complete their victory.
Leandro leite’s strike on 34 minutes was enough for Kalba to bounce back from their opening day defeat to promoted Al Bataeh and leave Wahda on one point from two games.
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So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
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Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Date: Sunday, November 25
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
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• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
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The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
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