JEDDAH, 27 April 2005 — Al-Ahli went through to the semifinals of the Arab Champions League soccer tournament on aggregate 2-1 after losing the second leg of their semifinal series with Al-Ismaeili of Egypt 1-0 yesterday in Egypt.
Ahli became the third Saudi side to qualify for the semifinals. Al-Hilal and Ittihad had both earlier qualified after winning home and away series against Al-Wedad of Morocco and against MC Alger of Algeria respectively.
The match was mainly dominated by the Egyptian side that needed to score two goals at least to level the two-leg series.
After winning their home match by 2-0 Ahli had three chances of making the grade by either winning, drawing or losing by not more than one goal.
The match was a mere five minutes old when Ahli got a stunner from Husni Abdrabu who fired in Ismaeili’s goal. Motivated by the goal, Ismaeili pushed forward and held Ahli players down in their half field. Ahli relied heavily on their defense line led by the team captain Muhammad Al-Khlaiwi and the star of the match Abdu Bsisi who saved many dangerous goals for Ahli.
Ahli nearly put Ismaeili in deep trouble when Keem gave a very nice cross inside the penalty box to Rogerio who made the shot but was blocked by defenders. The same player came in the 61st minute with a nice cross to Rogerio and this time the ball hit the high post.
Ismaeili continued to put the pressure on Ahli at midfield.
Ahli withdrew to their half of the field forming a strong defense line and relied on fast counter attacks by Keem and Rogerio. The most dangerous Ahli attempt came in the 69th minute when Tayseer Al-Jasim was given a nice through ball in front of the goalie and then he managed to outfox the goalie and send the ball toward the net only to be nicely saved by the defenders.
The match turned highly physical in the waning minutes of injury time as the Egyptian side became increasingly desperate to score a goal. To compound the situation, the referee lost control of the match as players from both sides engaged in a fight with 30 seconds to play in injury time.
Police had to step in to restore order in the match. The melee was triggered when Rogerio received an elbow on the face from one of the Egyptian players.
In the semifinals, also a two-leg home and away series, Hilal face Ittihad and Ahli meet C.S.S Taxien of Tunisia. The final match will take place in Jeddah since the two of the semifinalists, Ittihad and Ahli, are from Jeddah.
Hilal Taste Victory Against Ittihad in Home Match
At King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Al-Hilal delivered on their promise to their fans to win the match against Ittihad 1-0 in the semifinals of the Crown Prince Cup competition.
Hilal were the better organized team and Ittihad in bad shape for the better part of the match.
The only goal of the match came in the 80th minute from an Ahmad Al-Dokhi corner kick that Hilal striker Al-Suwaileh headed in. Ittihad goalie Mabrook Zaied was mainly to be blamed for stepping too far out to clear the corner kick. The ball went over his head to Al-Suwaileh who then duly put the ball into the net.
Ittihad play Hilal in the second leg of the away match at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah next Saturday.
