JEDDAH, 26 October — Friends Sports Club and Ryan Arts & Sports qualified for A and B division finals respectively in the SIFF-SADAFCO Soccer 2001 in their matches played at the Ministry of Education Stadium last Friday.
Friends struggled to defeat Westar ACC by a solitary goal, while Ryan had a convincing 4-2 victory over Al-Salama Brothers after leading 3-0 at the break.
Friends will now play the tournament’s A division final next Friday against today’s winners of Blue Star A and Asian Soccer, and Ryan will play the B division final against today’s winners in the semifinal match between Blue Star B and Malabar.
In the A division match, goalkeeper Hamza of Friends was outstanding. He rescued his side in a number of situations when the opponents were quite close to the goalpost. In one move, an attempt by striker Sharif to net the ball passed by winger Salim but was foiled by Hamza who threw his hands up and deflected the ball above the goalpost. It was a powerful shot from striker Sharif after receiving a pass from winger Salim. The going was tough for neither team could get the vital lead before the break. Soon after the kick-off in the second session, Westar ACC’s winger Salim, who once played for Keltron in Kerala’s local tournaments, twisted his ankle and was taken to hospital by a waiting ambulance. His team in the rest of the game missed Salim, who was quick and dependable on the field. Friends as though cashing in on his absence put pressure on their opponents by playing some attacking game.
However, a few attempts by both teams turned futile as their shots missed the target. Striker Sayeed of Friends missed a glorious chance to score. The long awaited first goal of the match came midway through the second half when Friends’ Kunyutty took a corner shot and Shajul Amin headed it in defying the goalkeeper.
But for Hamza’s alertness and saves, Friends might have conceded at least a couple of goals. Both teams struggled through the rest of the match without any success at the nets. SADAFCO Corporate Marketing Manager Brian D. Strong was the chief guest of the match in which Friends’ goalkeeper Hamza was adjudged as the best player.
In the B division match, Ryan led by two goals within 10 minutes of the commencement of the match. Striker Mujeeb scored both and improved his own tally to three by converting a pass from defender Anwar. Soon, Al-Salama had a chance to narrow the lead but failed to make use of the penalty shot through striker Naushad. The not so powerful went straight into the waiting hands of the Friends’ custodian.
The second session of the match began with Al-Salama making aggressive moves, which were rewarded. They scored two goals in quick succession and were on the verge of leveling the score on quite a few occasions but Friends’ strikers, wingers and goalkeeper thwarted all their attempts. Of the two, one was a long-range shot netted by Muhammad Ansar and the other converted by Abdul Majeed from a neat shot passed on to him by Muhammad Thotholi. Friends got their fourth goal before the close, which was scored by Sathar. Mujeeb of Ryan, the best player of the match, received his prize from chief guest V.K.V. Raman, consul commercial at the Consulate General of India.
In the interschool tournament, being organized on the sidelines of the SIFF-SADAFCO tournament, International Indian School-Jeddah (IISJ) beat Indonesian International School 2-0. Scorers for IISJ were Ali Abdullah and captain Sujahat, both strikers who converted their penalty shots. IISJ led 1-0 at the break and it improved its tally by a goal a few minutes before close. Indonesian winger Nizar Fikri was the man of the match for his display of excellent ball control and tactical shots. He received his prize from chief guest Abdul Karim Yahya Munshi, owner of Alpha Cargo.
Muhammad Abdullah Salim, Abdul Rahman Houzawi and Yousuf Houzawi officiated as referees.
Teams: Westar ACC - Abdul Rahman (goalkeeper), Jamshed (captain), Hassad, Mujeeb, Faisal, Ashraf, Saleem, Riyas, Naseer, Shoaib, Ibrahim, Ismail, Nayeem, Subair, Firoze.
Friends - Hameed, Hamza (goalkeeper), Sulaiman, Hameed Mampad (captain), Sakeer, Avru, Riyas, Kunyutti (Ghafour), Habib Rahman, Afzal, Mustafa, Shahul Hamid, Hamza, Hashim Zubair, Sayeed, Hussain, Haris, Mujeeb Rahman, Shaji, Bashir.
Ryan Arts & Sports - Basheer (goalkeeper)(, Rahimathullah (captain), Nafi, Muhammad Ali, Badar, Naushad, Ahmad, Anwar, Nasser, Akbar, Mujeeb, Sathar, Najeeb, Shahjahan, Usman, Abdul Aziz.
Alsalama Brothers - Abdul Ghafour (goalkeeper), Muhammad Ansar, Mushtaq Muhammad, Muhammad Thotholi, Muneer, Muhammad Saheed (captain), Sashidas, B. Moyeen, Sulaiman, Abdul Majeed, Aziz, Zubair, Shareef, Muhammad Hamza.
Today’s Matches: Interschool - IISJ vs Al-Wurood International School (4 p.m.), B division semifinal - Blue Star B vs. Malabar Sports (5.30 p.m.), A division semifinal - Blue Star A vs. Asian Soccer ( 7 p.m.)
