JEDDAH, 17 June 2004 — Al-Ittihad take on a youthful Al-Shabab of Riyadh in the King Fahd Cup Soccer Tournament final at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here tomorrow.
The contest of the premier teams Al-Ittihad, who qualified to the final at the top with 56 points, and a young Shabab team, who took second place with 42 points, is expected to be a battle-royale after the Riyadh outfit stopped Al-Ahli from making the final into a Jeddah derby.
Ittihad did not take part in the stepladder round robin, in which Ahli nearly upset the odds.
They charged from fourth to take on Shabab and in a lively encounter at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, gave Shabab a tough time before the zest of the Shabab team overcame the experienced Ahli 2-1.
The final will be held for the tenth time at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah since the start of King Fahd Cup in 1411H.
Ittihad start favorites over Shabab not only because of their dominant run in the tournament but also because they have shown an appetite for winning the event.
They are playing in the final for the seventh time in eight years and have won the cup five times.
If Ittihad win tomorrow, the club can inscribe their name on the Cup for the sixth time and keep the Cup forever. Ittihad played their first final in 1417H in Jeddah against Al-Hilal, winning it 2-0.
Ittihad met Ahli in the final two years later in 1419H, winning 1-0. The following year, Ittihad and Ahli met again in Jeddah in 1420H with Ittihad racking up a 2-1 win to keep that trophy for keeps. In 1421H, Ittihad met Al-Nasr of Riyadh in Jeddah and won 1-0 on Hamza Idress’ winner, they then lost the final in Jeddah in 1422H against Hilal 2-1, but came back last year in 1423H against Ahli at the King Fahd International Stadium to win 3-2.
Shabab, meanwhile, won the trophy three years in a row in 1411H, 1412H and 1413H against Nasr, Al-Ittifaq and Hilal and in the process took home the trophy for good after winning it thrice.
Though this would be an added incentive for Ittihad to win, the fact that Shabab found their touch against a gritty Ahli could bode a tough time for Ittihad in the final. Even some local fans concede that the Shabab team had shown grit in beating Ahli and could spring a surprise. But most still believe that their side would emerge triumphant.
Both Ittihad and Shabab are fine-tuning their preparation for the final. In all probability, Ittihad will rely of their experienced Mabrook Zaied to tend the goal, with Hamad Muntashiri, Islam Al-Shater, Reda Tukar and Saleh Al-Sagri marshalling the defense. Brazilian Tcheco, Muhammad Nur, Kariri and Al-Owairan man the middle line with Hamza Idrees and Argentinean star Zaratti will be the spearheads. Shabab on the other hand are relying on a younger team with most of them playing in the Saudi national youth team. Apart from a strong defense, Shabab have two leading scorers in Atram, who has 15 goals, and Richard Manga, who has nine goals. Naji Majrashi and Abdu Otaif too have been on the mark and they too can be difficult customers to contain on a given day.
But one thing is for sure, the final is likely to be keen and both the teams hoping to make it their day.
