JEDDAH, 2 May — The final game of the Crown Prince Cup between local challengers Al-Ittihad and Al-Ittifaq from Dammam will be held today. Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard will attend.
This final is considered the 26th in the history of this cup. The competition began 44 years ago in 1957. It had three stages of halt until the resolution of the Saudi Football federation in 1991 to reappear again. Ittihad won the cup that year. They are favorites to win the cup for many factors.
They will be playing at home and in front of a big home crowd who will be vociferously cheering for them.
Also they have the elite players from Saudi Arabia in the team. Hamza Idrees was the second highest scorer in the world in 2000. Marzouk Al-Otaibi was the third highest scorer in FIFA competition in Mexico 1999.
Alhasan Al-Yami was the top scorer of the GCC tournament in Dubai 2001. Brazilian Sergio is their goal machine and has been scoring consistently.
And Italian Jelsi and many other international players lend further strength to the team.
Brazilian Oscar is their coach and in the time that he has been with the team, he has succeeded in molding the team into a winning combination.
Ittifaq last appeared in the final in 1989 after winning the Arabic Tournament in Dubai.
They are playing this year with many young players who represented the Saudi team in the under-19 World Cup in 1999 in Nigeria.
The team will play this game with a little ray of hope that depends on a defensive plan and the speed of top scorer of the Saudi league, the Angolan Di Silva and the veteran Saudi national midfielder Abdul Aziz Al-Dosari.
Ittifaq came to final after beating Qadesiea 2-0, then Ta’ie 2-1 and Shabab 1-0.
Ittihad beat Abha 4-0, Riyadh 2-1 and then Hilal with 10 players 8-7 on penalty kicks.
The following are the final results:
1957 Ahli-Olympic 3-0; 1958 Ittihad-Ahli 3-2; 1959 Ittihad-Wehda 4-3; 1960 Wehda-Shatie 2-0; 1961 Central-Western 2-1; 1962 Eastern-Western 2-1; 1963 Ittihad-Ittifaq 6-2; 1964 Hilal-Wehda 4-3; 1965 Ittifaq-Ittihad 3-2; 1968 Western-Eastern 5-2; 1969 Western-Central 4-3; 1970 Ahli beat Wehda on penalty kicks; 1971 Nasar-Wehda 2-1; 1972 Nasr-Ahli 2-0; 1991 Ittihad-Nasr 6-5; 1992 Qadesiea beat Shabab on penalty kicks; 1993 Shabab Ittihad 5-3; 1994 Riyadh-Shabab 1-0; 1995 Hilal-Riyadh 1-0; 1996 Shabab-Nasr 3-0; 1997 Ittihad-Taie 2-0; 1998; Ahli-Riyadh 3-2; 1999 Shabab-Hilal 1-0; 2000 Hilal-Shabab 3-0.
Ittihad won most titles with 5 victories followed by Ahli and Shahbab. Hilal won 3 while Nasr had won two.
