JEDDAH, 19 July 2007 — So far so good. Saudi Arabia’s young national football team routed Gulf neighbors Bahrain 4-0 yesterday to advance into the quarterfinals in the Asian Cup at the Jaka Baring Stadium, Palembang, Indonesia.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, congratulated the Saudi national team for winning the match against Bahrain 4-0 and qualifying for the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup 2007 as the top team from Group D yesterday. The king congratulated the players and officials in a telephone call to delegation head Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal ibn Fahd, vice president of the Youth Welfare and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday.
The Kingdom qualified first from Group D with seven points following two wins and an opening draw with South Korea, who advanced second from the group with a lot of help from the Saudi win and their own 1-0 victory over co-hosts Indonesia at Gelora Karno Stadium in Jakarta. The Koreans had four points from one win, one draw and one loss.
Saudi national team coach Brazilian Helio Dos Anjos entered the match convinced that Bahrain would not be an easy task noting that the side changed their formation and tactics in the previous game. “Despite conceding an early goal they made a big comeback and revived their chances in the tournament,” he said. “The next games will be hard, but we are confident we can grow in this competition,” said dos Anjos, who has faced critics at home over the team’s slow start to the tournament. “It is very important we topped the group. We are happy to be staying here. The people are very happy and they take good care of us.” As group winner, Saudi Arabia will remain in Jakarta for a weekend quarterfinal against Uzbekistan the second-place team in Group C. Uzbekistan qualified after beating China 3-0 in Kuala Lumpur.
The Koreans travel to Malaysia to take on the Group C winner Iran, a 2-0 winner over Malaysia in the match that was played simultaneously with the Uzbekistan-China tie. Defending champion Japan topped Group A and will meet Group B runner-up Australia in a quarterfinal at Hanoi on Saturday, when Group A winner Iraq takes on Vietnam at Bangkok.
At Jakarta, the Korean win meant disappointment for Indonesia and 90,000 fans in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium — a draw would have been enough for the co-hosts to advance. Elie Aiboy went close for Indonesia after 28 minutes, shooting just over from inside the box when perhaps passing to the unmarked Budi Sudarsono would have been a better choice.But it was the South Koreans who created most of the chances and converted one. Lee Chun-soo beat two defenders outside the box and passed to Kim, whose fierce shot took a slight deflection off Muhammed Ridwan. The goal gave the Japan-based Kim a measure of redemption as it was his woeful backpass that led to Bahrain’s late winner three days previously.
At Palembang, Saudi Arabia took the lead on 17 minutes after Yasser Al Qahtani threaded a ball into the Bahrain penalty area which deflection and broke nicely for Ahmed Al Mousa, who rounded the goalkeeper and sidefooted the goal. Abdularahman Al-Qahtani made it 2-0 just on half time, sliding in at the far post to meet an accurate cross by Malek Maaz.
Bahrain almost pulled one back seven minutes after half time when Salman Isa Ghuloom fired a powerful shot from the left that the ’keeper parried onto the crossbar. Saudi Arabia sealed the victory on 72 minutes in spectacular fashion, when Taisir Al Jassam struck a powerful shot from outside the penalty box that flew past a diving Abdulkarim into the top left corner of the net.
Al Jassam added another 10 minutes from regulation time.
— With input from Associated Press
