JEDDAH, 13 September 2007 — Four of Al-Ahli’s bankable players including Malik Mouath are doubtful starters for the match with Al-Shabab today in the Saudi Football League. Mouath along with Walid Abdrabuh, Ibrahim Hazzazi and Alaa Reishani sustained injuries during training with the Saudi national football teams for the 11th Pan Arab Games and Olympic qualifying event. Ahli’s German coach Theo Bucker is hesitant to use the four players in the Riyadh derby fearful this might aggravate their injury woes. Meanwhile, Ahli club is negotiating for a new foreign professional to replace Brazilian Nunez who did not meet their expectations.
Ittihad Await Brazilian De Souza
JEDDAH — Al-Ittihad club awaits the international card for Brazilian international Robert De Souza who moved to Ittihad from Spanish club Real Betis recently. Ittihad were supposed to receive the card on Tuesday from the FIFA but did not. The cause of the delay was apparently the transfer problems brought about by the interest of Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in De Souza. De Souza had impressed the Belgian coach of Ittihad, who made the move to acquire the services of the Brazilian after being convinced by Candinho that a player of De Souza’s caliber would greatly benefit the team.
Saudi Team Crush Ghana
JEDDAH — The Saudi national football team crushed Ghana 5-0 Tuesday night in the qualifying match for the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Tuesday. The victory was not without a price as the team, captained by Yasser “The Sniper” Al-Qahtani, had several players limping off the field with injuries as a result of their rivals’ highly physical game. Injured were Saad Al-Harthi, Ibrahim Hazzazi, Saud Kariri, Walid Abdrabuh and Talal Al-Khaibary who were all taken to the hospital. Al-Qahtani score twice, while Kariri, Al-Harthi, and Reda Tukkar had a goal each for the Saudi team.
Special Pass Cards for Ittifaq Fans
JEDDAH —Al-Ittifaq football club will make available special season pass cards for fans. The cards which the fans can use for Ittifaq club matches in the new season are priced at SR4, 500 for the first class, SR1, 500 second class, and SR200 third class. Abdulaziz Al-Dossari, president of Ittifaq club, meanwhile said the fans would attend today’s match against Al-Wehda in Dammam and hopefully the team reward them with a victory and a berth in the second round of the Gulf tournament for clubs. “starting with an impressive performance is a good sign and we lacked that in the past few years thus we hope this season their performance would be different”, he said.
