ABHA, 18 August 2004 — Al-Rajaa Club of Morocco squeaked past Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nasr Club 4-3 in a thrilling encounter of the International Friendship Soccer Tournament at Prince Sultan Sports City here yesterday.
Nasr played extremely well in its bid to qualify for the next round of the tournament but the Moroccan club dashed their hopes. Mansour Al-Thaqafi of Nasr opened the scoring in the 44th minute. But Bikari Adel of Rajaa brought the teams on level terms within two minutes. Muhammad Al-Shahrani and Muhammad Al-Yousuf of Nasr then put their team ahead with strikes in the 60th and 70th minutes only to trigger a stirring Moroccan fightback and a measure of revenge against Nasr, who had beaten them by an identical 4-3 score in the World Cup tournament for clubs in Brazil four years ago.
Hisham Abu Shirwan, Suleiman Rasheed and Harouch Nuruddin scored in quick succession for Rajaa to take their team into the semifinals. Following yesterday’s victory, Rajaa tally rose to seven points while Nasr has only one point. Nasr will meet America Ducali of Columbia on Thursday in its last match of the tournament.
In the second match of the day, Ducali ensured its spot in the semifinals by beating Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli 4-1 to take its total to nine points. Today, United Club of Japan will face South Africa’s Jomo Cosmos while the second game will bring together Saudi teams Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad.
Sociedad and Liverpool Agree Alonso Deal
In Madrid, Real Sociedad have agreed to sell Spanish international midfielder Xabi Alonso to Liverpool, the Primera Liga club said yesterday.
“Real Sociedad and Liverpool reached an agreement this morning for the transfer of Xabi Alonso to the historic English club,” Sociedad said on their website.
Sociedad added that the player had given the go-ahead to the deal, which is expected to be finalized in the next few hours.
Spanish media reported that Liverpool had made a 16 million-euro ($19.61 million) offer for the highly rated 22-year-old midfielder who has won 11 caps for Spain and is in the squad for this week’s friendly against Venezuela.
Alonso had been linked with a move to Real Madrid, but the deal was put on hold when Real began their unsuccessful bid to sign Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira.
Renowned for his fine passing and determined tackling, Alonso has experience of playing in the Champions League and has scored a handful of spectacular goals since making his Primera Liga debut in 2001.
He will be the third Spanish player to arrive at Liverpool since former Valencia coach Rafa Benitez took charge at Anfield.
Malaga defender Josemi joined last month and Real Madrid midfielder Antonio Nunez signed for the Merseysiders as part of the exchange deal that sent England striker Michael Owen to the Bernabeu.
