JEDDAH, 23 October 2007 — Al-Ittifaq host Al-Hilal today in the first leg of their semifinal series in the Gulf Club Championship.
Defending champions Ittifaq enter the match hoping to recover from a 1-0 beating from Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Football League on Thursday night.
Dammam-based Ittifaq qualified second of their group to the semifinals with a one goal difference in favor of Al-Jazirah whom topped Group A.
Hilal managed to win all three qualifying matches to finish top of Group B.
In the other match, Al-Jazirah of UAE play at home to Al-Nasr of Oman.
The away matches of the two-legged series will be played on Nov. 26.
Riyadh-based Hilal are trying to make amends with their fans after exiting the AFC Champions League following a defeat by UAE’s Al-Wehda last month. Hilal and Saudi national team midfielder Mohammed Al-Shalhoub told Arabic daily Al-Riyadh that the players are determined to make up their exit from AFC by winning the Gulf tournament.
Saleh Khalifa, associate team manager, said, “it’s going to be a strong match against Hilal. The winner of tomorrow’s match is going to cross half the way to the final. Both teams are not going to give the championship away easily.”
Ittifaq team manager Yehea Al-Saleh, said in an interview carried yesterday by Arriyadiah “Al-Ittifaq is a different team this year. We are not easy prey as we were in the past seasons… Our team has the capability to take on the best teams even if that team is Al-Hilal.”
“We are going to take advantage of the first match as we are going to play against Al-Hilal at home with the support of our fans,” said Al-Saleh.
