JEDDAH, 9 May 2005 — Al-Ahli kept alive their flickering hopes of qualifying for the Final Four in which the qualifiers contest the King Fahd Cup trophy by beating Al-Qadisiya 2-0 yesterday at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
The match is one of five Ahli need to win to secure their place in the four-team stepladder final where the No. 1 team wait for their opponent in a winner-take-all match for the championship. The first stepladder match pits the fourth qualifier against the third-ranked squad with the winner moving up to meet the No. 2 qualifier in another knockout game to decide the top team’s challenger.
Ahli came to the match under pressure to win against a Qadisiya side that fielded second liners in preparation for an all-important final match against Al-Hilal in the Crown Prince Cup on Friday in Riyadh.
Rogerio scored the goal that set up Ahli’s victory in the 71st minute when he chested down a high riser in front of the penalty area and slammed home a powerful shot that traveled past the right-hand side of the Qadisiya goalkeeper.
This goal whetted the appetite of Ahli players to score more. They got what they wanted as another goal came in the 86th minute from a free kick by Flavio, the ball finding its way easily in the back of Qadisiya net.
The win gave Ahli three points and a total of 29 in fifth position, still a long way considering they are six points adrift of Al-Nasr and Al-Ittihad.
Ahli pushed forward from the first moment of the match and came closing to scoring the first goal in the 7th minute when a pass by Ali Al-Abdali to Alesandro found its way in front of the goal and the fine shot by Alesandro hit the upper post. Ahli had another chance in the 18th minute from a free kick, the ball going just centimeters wide from the left post.
