JEDDAH, 2 April 2007 — Al-Ittihad lost the Crown Prince Cup first leg semifinal against Al-Ittifaq 1-0 at the Prince Muhammad ibn Faisal Stadium in Dammam, thereby putting on themselves extra pressure in the return leg.
Ittihad failed to turn in a good performance against the Eastern Province team, who proved to be a tough opponent while not being afraid of taking on the big names in the league.
The only goal of the match came in the 72nd minute through Ibraheem Al-Mughannam, who received a nice pass from Saleh Basheer.
The pass cleared Ittihad defenders and Al-Mughannam rounded the Ittihad defense to come face to face with the goalkeeper. With the goalkeeper at his mercy, he chipped the ball over the goalkeeper into the empty net.
Ittihad pushed forward in search of the equalizer, but all their efforts foundered in front of a tough Ittifaq defense line. Though Ittifaq managed to take the lead in the two-leg semifinals, the 1-0 lead may not be enough when they travel to Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah this Thursday to determine the winner and the first team to reach the final.
Meanwhile the first leg semifinal match of Arab Champions League will start today with the Jeddah-based team Al-Ahli hosting ES Setif at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah.
Ahli is prepared for the match and will try to rack up the numbers in Jeddah and take a comfortable cushion for the return leg in Algeria on April 18. Ahli qualified as the second team from Group-A with 10 points behind El Zamalek of Egypt, who topped the group with 11 points. ES Setif topped Group-B with 11 points and Al-Faisali of Jordan placed second with 10 points.
