JEDDAH, 15 January 2005 — Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad scored shutout victories against Qadiseya and Taie in a pair of weekend contests yesterday in the King Fahd Cup soccer tournament.
Hilal’s 1-0 win at the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd stadium in Riyadh elbowed Al-Shabab out of the lead in a see-sawing battle between the two leaders.
Behind Shabab by a point at the start of the match, Hilal brought their total to 29 points in 13 matches. Shabab slid to second and two points behind on 27 points.
Qadiseya proved a tough customer indeed as they forced Hilal to a scoreless first half. Hilal wasted many chances and scored their only goal in the 70th by Marsellio.
The goal was actually a nice shot by Abdullah Al-Jamman, which was blocked by the goalie and rebounded to Marsellio who slammed home Hilal’s winner and only goal of the game. Qadiseya launched many attacks searching for the equalizer but Hilal defenders managed to preserve the victory.
Ittihad scored all their goals against Taie in the second half and came away with an emphatic 3-0 victory at Prince Abdullah AL-Faisal stadium here.
Brazilian international Sergio tallied Ittihad’s first two goals in the 56th and 58th minutes.
From there Ittihad were firmly in control and Saleh Al-Saqri put the icing on the victory cake with another marker in the 84th minute.
The win pushed Ittihad to third place over Al-Ahli on goal difference after both teams gained 25 points. Ahli dropped to 4th position.
