JEDDAH: Al-Ittihad advanced to the semifinals of AFC Champions League by beating PFC Pakhtakor Tashkent of Uzbekistan 4-0 in the quarterfinal second leg match here at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah here on Wednesday. The first leg match ended 1-1 in Uzbekistan on Sept. 24.
Ittihad had two chances to go through — either draw 0-0 or simply win. Enjoying a home-field advantage, Ittihad elected not to play conservative football and crushed the Uzbekistani team.
Sultan Al-Numari headed in a shot on the rebound to open the score for Ittihad in the 43rd minute. At resumption, Amin Chermiti scored Ittihad’s second goal in the 55th minute of the match before Hisham Busharwan followed with his own marker in the 71st minute.
Five minutes later, Muhammad Nur struck with Ittihad’s fourth goal of the match.
In the semifinals, another two-legged series, Ittihad will face Nagoya Grampus Eight of Japan in the first leg match in Jeddah Oct. 21 with the second leg set for Oct. 28.
It will be Umm Salal of Qatar against Pohang Steelers of South Korea in the other semifinal matchup. The first leg match will take place in South Korea on Oct. 21 and the second leg in Qatar on Oct. 28.
In the Zain Saudi Professional League action, Al-Ahli suffered its first defeat against Al-Shabab 2-1 at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh. Shabab now has 10 points equal with idle Hilal which stayed in first place on goal difference with Shabab second in the standings.
Ahli froze in fourth position on mere 6 points. Al-Fateh defeated Ittifaq in Dammam 2-0 as it jumped to sixth on 4 points. Ittifaq dropped to 11th on 2 points.
Al-Hazem defeated Al-Raid in Al-Rass 2-1. Hazem is fifth on 4 points and Raid eighth on 3 points.
The league takes a break for 15 days and will resume on Oct. 15
