The visitors should have taken a 14th-minute lead when Ziad Al Jaziri found himself well placed but fired wide.

United Arab Emirates League champions Al Wasl started to find their feet as the half wore on and mustered chances for Eisa Ali and Rogerio Silva but to no avail.

Mauro Maurito almost broke the deadlock for Al Kuwait at the start of the second half but missed the target and the Angola midfielder then went even closer when he saw his header smash against the left-hand post and rebound to safety.

At the other end, Alexandre Oliveira saw his shot well saved by Khaled Al Fadhli, but the hosts did find the breakthrough shortly afterwards.

Tariq Hassan latched onto a loose ball and fired the ball into an unguarded net from close range.

Al Kuwait looked for a way back into the game in the remaining 15 minutes but could not create any opportunities of note as Al Wasl secured their first triumph of the pool stages.