JEDDAH, 7 April 2005 — Al Ahli hammered home the point that indeed they are back in an emphatic 3-0 victory over Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan yesterday in the Asian Champions League match at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
It was the second straight victory at the international level at home for Ahli who have never lost a match in 29 outings the past three years on Saudi soil.
Also, the win boosted Ahli’s chances of qualifying as the top team from Group D with nine points from three home matches.
Al-Shabab, meantime, suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat away to Al-Ain in the UAE in a Group B match.
After a scoreless first half, Ahli returned with a renewed vigor in the second half to embarrass the Uzbek team by slamming all three goals.
Ahli opened their account in the 59th minute when Brazilian player Olivera received a nice cross inside the penalty box, outmaneuvered the goalie then put the ball in the back of the net.
Ahli again scored in the 84th minute when midfielder Malik Moaz who turned in a nice cross inside the penalty box from Olivera.
Adding salt to Uzbek injury, Ahli came through with their third goal of the match — a penalty kick when one of the Uzbek defenders handled the ball inside the penalty box. The team captain, Hussein Abdul Ghani, converted the penalty award.
Pakhtakor, Syria’s Al-Jaish and Al-Zawraa of Iraq are tied for second, third and fourth places at three points apiece.
Edilson scored the first and second goals in the 29th and 32nd minutes for Al-Ain. Subeet Khater accounted for Al-Ain’s third goal in the 48th minute.
Al-Ain is first of Group B with 7 points, Sepahan of Iran second with 5 points, Shabab third with 4 points and Wehda of Syria last with 0 points.
