Al Wasl produced a ruthless second-half display to cruise to a commanding 4-0 victory over Kalba in gameweek two of the ADIB Cup at Zabeel Stadium on Friday.
The victory made it two wins from two for Al Wasl, who followed up their thrilling 3-2 opening-round success over Al Ain with another impressive performance.
After a goalless first half, Al Wasl returned from the interval with far greater intensity and needed just four minutes to break the deadlock.
A devastating counterattack opened up the Kalba defence before Sergio Pereira squared the ball into the path of Renato Junior, who kept his composure to finish clinically and give the hosts the lead.
Al Wasl needed only three more minutes to double their advantage.
Siaka Sidibe collected possession outside the penalty area, skipped beyond his marker and threaded a perfectly weighted pass through to Brahian Palacios. The winger did the rest, guiding a superb low effort into the far corner beyond the helpless goalkeeper.
The quickfire double completely shifted the momentum in Al Wasl's favour. Kalba struggled to deal with the hosts' pace in transition, while Al Wasl continued to exploit the spaces opening up behind their defensive line.
The third arrived in the 83rd minute through Leandro Spadacio Leite, who controlled the ball inside the area before drilling a low strike into the bottom-left corner to put the result beyond doubt.
There was still time for another. With one minute of regulation time remaining, Matheus Saldanha timed his run perfectly to latch onto an excellent pass from Pereira, beat the offside trap and calmly finish past the goalkeeper to complete the 4-0 rout.
Pereira proved particularly influential, providing two assists as Al Wasl's movement and direct attacking play repeatedly caused problems for Kalba after the break.
The result underlined Al Wasl's strong start to the competition, with seven goals scored across their opening two matches.
Al Wasl will now look to make it three consecutive victories when they face Khorfakkan on Thursday, October 8, while Kalba will aim to bounce back when they take on Al Ain on the same day.
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