JEDDAH, 4 October — Al-Ahli of Jeddah lifted the Prince Faisal Cup beating Al-Hilal of Riyadh in the penalty shootout at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah last night. Both teams, who were 2-2 at the end of the regular game, failed to score the winning goal during the two 15 minute extra plays.
In the penalty shootout Al-Ahli netted four as against Al-Hilal’s three.
It was a tensely played match with a nailbiting finish. Al-Ahli striker Waleed Al-Jaizany scored the first goal for his team within minutes of the start. He was also instrumental in scoring a second goal. But soon Al-Hilal with strikers Abdullah Jaman and Brazilian Admelson netting a goal each leveled score. Both of them brought off the goals after an excellent show of passing and ball control. The halftime score of 2-2 remained the same in the second half as neither team could improve the tally. There were quite a few near misses on the part of both teams.
Two extra plays of 15 minutes each also did not produce any result. In the penalty shootout that followed Abdullah Jaman of Al-Ahli and Ibrahim Sueil of Al-Hilal cleanly netted the ball for their teams. Next, both Badr Al-Mutaimi and Fouzi Ashehri of Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli respectively missed their kicks. Badr’s kick hit the right goalpost while Fouzi’s was cleanly held by the goalkeeper by diving to his right.
In the next two shootouts, both were netted scoring a goal for each time — Al-Hilal’s Hussein Alshaie and Al-Ahli’s Badr Al Khozami. However in the next move Al-Hilal’s Admelson shot the ball into the goalkeeper’s hands, but Al-Ahli’s Naif Al-Gadi succeeded in netting the ball. The next two shots were both scored by the two teams — Faisal Saleh of Al-Hilal and Khaled Al-Shunaib of Al-Ahli.
Mansour Al Nagih and Hassan Al-Ataibi were the goalkeepers respectively of Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal.
China and Iran close in on World Cup places
The upstarts of the Asian World Cup qualifiers have had their say; now the grown-ups are talking, AFP adds.
As the marathon second round of qualifiers enters the home straight, it’s the powerhouses of the region who are in sight of the finals in Japan and South Korea next year.
In Group A, it’s a battle between leaders Saudi Arabia, who have 11 points from six matches, and Iran, two points behind but with a game in hand.
