JEDDAH, 10 January 2005 — Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad squeeze in Arab league matches into their busy local season schedule during the week.
Hilal host Al-Faisali of Jordan in Riyadh today in what looms as an explosive Group C second round match in the Arab League Championship.
Hilal’s 3-0 victory over Al-Afriqi of Tunisia gave the Riyadh-based club the lead in the group which they are looking to keep with another win over the Jordanians.
Egypt’s Al-Esmaieli complete the teams in Group C.
Hilal had completed their final preparation against Al-Faisali and the players exuded confidence and great enthusiasm on the eve of the big match.
Abdullah Al-Jamman and Sami Al-Jaber are expected to lead the striking unit of Hilal who have been promised financial rewards by team officials if they win against the Jordanian squad.
Ittihad of Jeddah travel to Doha early today for the match against Al-Ahli of Qatar tomorrow where both teams break their tie for the Group B lead.
Ittihad’s Belgian coach Loca put the team in fitness training throughout last week after the unconvincing King Fahd Cup performance they showed against Al-Nasr last week which ended in a 1-1 draw.
The team lineup underwent changes mainly due to injuries to some players and national team duties for others. Ittihad and Ahli each have three points with the former’s victory coming against Wefaq Steef of Algeria 2-0 in Jeddah on Sept. 25.
Jeddah’s Ahli are headed to Morocco to play against Al-Wedad of Morocco on Wednesday.
In their last Arab League Championship outing on Nov. 24, Ahli battled Al-Benzarti of Tunisia in Tunisia to a scoreless draw. Unimpressive as they were in their Arab League debut, Ahli are struggling to fill the positions vacated by their injured players. Taken off the injury list, however, are Fawzi Al-Shehri and Fahd Al-Zahrani who have both been declared match fit by the team medical staff.
Like Ittihad, Ahli also have some players on loan to the national team. But this did not stop team manager Tareq Kayyal from declaring they are looking forward to come back from Morocco with the game and full three points to lead the group.
