JEDDAH, 22 April 2008 — April 18 will forever be remembered as the blackest day in the history of Al-Ahli football club.
Ahli not only lost by a large margin of 6-1 against the Riyadh-based Al-Shabab, but the underhanded tactic Ahli players used to end the match by faking injuries shamed and angered many Ahli fans.
They were falling like tenpins on the ground with feigned injuries to force the referee to end the match before the regular time. The main reason was to take the advantage of the mercy rule and preclude a further beating.
Under the rule a team with a severely depleted lineup on the field and therefore unable to compete before the stoppage time automatically loses the match by 3-0.
The Ahli tactic apparently didn’t work and the 6-1 result was upheld.
Ahli fans approached Shabab president Khaled Al-Baltan in the stands and begged him to call his players not to score any more goals. Many Ahli fans are not giving up on the team despite the great embarrassment they endured against Shabab. While prospects could be better next season the question that remains unanswered was why Ahli’s performance has hit rock bottom.
To recap the team’s performance this year, Ahli exited the entire local competitions, and are facing a mission impossible to qualify for the quarterfinals in the AFC Champions League. The lack of firmness about the way Ahli management run the football team was one of the main reasons for the 2008 debacle.
At the start of the season, Ahli hired German coach Theo Bukair, who has had a great success with the Makkah-based club Wehda last year, to lead their football team.
Ahli had a bumpy start and started to lose many points, putting the new coach in a very difficult position. The coach put the blame on the absence of key players at that time who were participating with the national team in international competitions. Ahli fans put pressure on Ahli club management that had no other solution but to rehire the Serbian coach Nebusha.
On his second coming, Nebusha too failed work his magic on the team, mouthing off an assortment of alibis for the failure – from bad calls by the referees to injuries to key players. It was under the watch of Yousuf Anbar, the third man to Ahli coach this season, when the disaster happened.
He said, “Ahli is going through tough times now. The Ahli honorary members will bring the team back to its feet.” Anbar refused to comment on what really happened. He said Ahli need to focus on the remaining matches of AFC Champions League. He said that should Ahli not qualify for the next round, at last the team showed their best performance in the competition.
He said, “Nebusha is a big-name coach and he managed to reach his goals of achieving the two titles last year. We have to give the credit to Nebusha as the coach who recruited the new players that served Ahli club and the national team.”
Tariq Kayyal, executive manager at Ahli club, said that the current situation inside Ahli club is difficult. He said, “Teams go through these situations and the ups and downs. It is not the end of the club and we will come back next season strong. As far as Ahli presidency nomination is concerned, all I can say is that I am currently a member of the committee that receives the nominations and the new club president will be announced on the first week of May.”
