JEDDAH, 6 January 2005 — Al-Hilal rocketed back to top of the table in the King Fahd Cup soccer tournament with a 2-1 victory against Al-Taie of Hail in Hail yesterday.
Helping the Riyadh-based Hilal regain the lead were Al-Riyadh who snatched a last-minute 2-2 draw with Al-Ahli at their home turf.
Ahli, of Jeddah, started the match alone on top but found themselves trailing by one at the end of the day’s program no thanks to Saeed Al-Kahtani who stunned Ahli fans when he scored the equalizer in injury time.
The victory gave Hilal 26 points, while Ahli had 25.
Al-Ittihad of Jeddah managed to collect full three points despite their depleted lineup with a 3-0 away victory against Ohod of Madinah.
Ittihad jumped to third position with 22 points.
Hilal deserved credit for having passed the difficult match against the tough Taie side.
Taie were first to score in the 12th minute courtesy of Hamadji. Hilal quickly equalized through Sami Al-Jaber three minutes later.
Both teams battled on even terms until the 75th minute when Brazilian player Camacho netted the second goal for Hilal who held on to the lead until the final whistle.
All goals in the Ahli-Riyadh match came during the second half. Oman striker Emad Sulaiman was first to score for Riyadh in the 60th minute from a nice header. Ahli equalized in the 75th minute through Muhammad Massad.
Ahli then took a 2-1 lead four minutes later in the 79th minute with a goal by Waleed Al-Jezani.
Ahli were in control the rest of the way until Al-Kahtani came up with a last-minute goal at the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd stadium in Riyadh.
At Prince Muhammad ibn Abdulaziz stadium in Madinah, Ittihad, with eight players on loan to the national team, locked up three points against the cellar-dweller Ohod.
Saleh Al-Sakri scored the icebreaker for Ittihad in the 35th minute. The Brazilian international player Sergio scored the second goal in the 52nd minute and Marzook Al-Otaibi tallied the third goal of the match in the 70th minute.
Three matches are set for today. Al-Nasr of Riyadh play host to Al-Qadiseya, Shabab are away against Al-Ansar in Madinah and Wehda entertain Ittifaq in Makkah.
Meantime in Lima, Peru, former Ecuador coach Carlos Sevilla has become manager of 2003 Copa Sudamericana winners Cienciano after Wilmar Valencia turned down the post, the Peruvian club said yesterday.
“Sevilla’s been hired. Tomorrow he will arrive in Cuzco to start work,” Cienciano’s director Angel Ramirez told Reuters.
Sevilla has a one-year contract and replaces Freddy Ternero, who took Cienciano to the Copa Sudamericana title.
Ternero left the club for personal reasons.
Valencia, the youth team coach at Alianza Lima, turned down the job at Cienciano after failing to come to an agreement with the club last month. Cienciano, based in the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, finished third in the league and beat Argentina’s Boca Juniors on penalties to win the South American Recopa, the playoff between the Sudamericana and Libertadores winners.
