JEDDAH, 4 June 2005 — Saudi Arabia played an A-1 game as with supreme confidence as they blasted Kuwait 3-0 last night before a cheering crowd of 65,000 at the King Fahd International Stadium in Jeddah.

The victory put the Kingdom top of Group A in the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. They now have eight points, one clear of South Korea who snatched a 1-1 draw against Uzbekistan in Uzbekistan.

Meantime, Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, chief of Youth Welfare Presidency, expressed his happiness over the victory and said the Saudi team has crossed 80 percent of the way to reach the World Cup. The Saudis delivered on their promise to get the full three points in their bid to qualify a fourth time for the World Cup finals.

And the star of the match was Muhammad Al-Shalhoub who showed an exceptional performance and scored two goals for Saudi Arabia in the 19th minute from a free kick that was badly deflected by a Kuwaiti defender and in the 48th minute from a nice pass by the team captain Sami Al-Jaber.

Al-Jaber passed the ball inside the penalty box to Al-Shalhoub who drilled the ball into the left corner of the net. Saad Al-Harthi sealed the Saudi goalfeast with a brilliant solo effort in the 82nd minute zigzagging his way past four Kuwaiti defenders to score at point blank range. From the first minute of the match, Saudi Arabia were more determined and controlled the game forcing their Gulf neighbors and rivals to play on their half. Sami Al-Jaber quarterbacked a well-organized Saudi attack setting up Yasser Al-Qahtani and Al-Shalhoub scoring chances.

An early first goal which was more a Kuwaiti own goal energized the Saudis and forced their opponets to draw back.

Sami Al-Jaber got away time and gain from the tight marking by Kuwaiti defenders and spelled trouble in the Kuwaiti defense line. Al-Jaber nearly scored the second goal when his nice shot inside the penalty box hit the left post in the 23rd minute. The dangerous Al-Jaber was again unlucky as his solo effort in the 38th minute when he passed by two defenders and outmaneuvered the goalie fell short.

Kuwait’s luck ran out when two of their players were sent out with red cards in the 64th minute and in the 71st minute. Ali Al-Namash was giving the red card for hard tackle on Al-Jaber from the back making the Kuwait mission more difficult.

Another Kuwaiti player was sent out for hitting a Saudi player with the ball during a stoppage time of an injured Saudi player.

Kuwait is third with 4 points and last is Uzbekistan with 2 points. Saudi Arabia will host Uzbekistan on Wednesday in Riyadh.

Another victory would guarantee the Saudis a berth in the World Cup finals. The Uzbeks, who were in a must-win position to keep alive their chances of qualifying, began by testing their guests defense right from the kick-off. But after 20 minutes South Korea regained the initiative and created several chances, but the hosts’ defense, led by goalkeeper Yevgeny Safonov, played without any major mistakes.