Al Dhafra first team suffered a 3–2 defeat against Khorfakkan in the match played on Friday evening at Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium in Madinat Zayed, as part of Round 15 of the ADNOC Pro League.
Al Dhafra made an unconvincing start to the game, lacking focus and cohesion between the lines, which resulted in conceding an early goal in the sixth minute following a defensive error. The situation did not improve after the opener, as Khorfakkan continued to apply pressure and doubled their lead from the penalty spot in the 24th minute.
After going two goals down, Al Dhafra head coach made a tactical change, introducing Abdullah Al Karbi in place of Leonard. The team gradually regained their balance, and Moroccan striker Karim El Berkaoui reduced the deficit by converting a penalty in the 36th minute, ending the first half with Khorfakkan leading 2–1.
Al Dhafra showed a much-improved performance at the start of the second half, with players displaying clear determination to equalize. The team imposed its dominance and created several chances before earning another penalty, which Souza successfully converted to level the score.
The following minutes witnessed strong challenges and physical encounters from both sides, resulting in several yellow cards. In an effort to boost attacking effectiveness, Al Dhafra coach made a double substitution, bringing on Rayan Yeslem and Abdulrahman Al Susi in place of Khalil Ibrahim and Marcelinho.
Despite Al Dhafra’s relative superiority and continuous attempts to score the winning goal, the match took an unfortunate turn when Khorfakkan were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute, which substitute Lourency converted into the decisive third goal.
Al Dhafra pushed forward in the remaining minutes, backed by strong home support, but the scoreline remained unchanged until the final whistle.
Following this result, Al Dhafra’s points tally remains at 16, dropping to ninth place, while Khorfakkan raised their total to 18 points, moving up to seventh in the standings.

028847482 altayeb.ali@dfsc.ae