JEDDAH, 8 April 2006 — Al-Hilal won the Crown Prince Cup soccer competition beating Al-Ahli in the final 1-0 last night at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
Nawaf Al-Tumyat scored the only goal for Hilal in the 22nd minute of the match after he received a fine pass inside the penalty box from Muhammad Al-Shalhoub. Al-Tumyat hit a shot from the left that sailed over the goalie and into the back of the net. That proved the only burst Hilal needed as the Riyady-based squad took control of the midfield most of the time.
While Hila delivered a solid perfomance, Ahli were disorganized and failed to convert excellent chances that came their way in the first half. After the goal, Hilal took a firm grip of the match as Ahli were trying to hold the backline together.
In the second half, Ahli stepped up somewhat but then they had difficulty cracking the enemy defense line. The Hilal coach introduced more defenders after pulling out Al-Tumyat and Al-Qahtani to preserve Hilal’s lead. Ahli continued to push forward but were not unable to buy a despite introducing more strikers in the front line. This is the second title for Hilal this season after Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Cup and the fifth in a row after Hilal secured all three titles last year.
Middlesbrough Stun Basel To Seal UEFA Semis Slot
Reuters add from London: Middlesbrough pulled off an astonishing fightback to rival Liverpool’s Champions League resurrection last season to stun Basel and reach the UEFA Cup semi-finals on Thursday.
Italian substitute Massimo Maccarone’s strike a minute from time gave the Premier League side the goal they needed to progress, sealing a 4-1 victory and putting them through 4-3 on aggregate and into a meeting with Steaua Bucharest. Basel, 2-0 up from the first leg, went further ahead with Eduardo’s goal on 23 minutes to leave Boro needing to score four. Australian Mark Viduka got two back and then after Basel were reduced to 10 men after Swedish defender Daniel Majstorovic was sent off, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink rifled in a third before Maccarone calmly slotted in a rebound to cue wild celebrations.
