JEDDAH, 12 December 2002 — Al-Ittihad retained their lead in the King Fahd Cup soccer tournament when they downed Al-Raid 3-2 on Tuesday in the sixth round. It was the first match after the Eid Al-Fitr break. In other matches, Al-Qadisiya defeated Al-Nasr 2-1 while Al-Tai’e drew 1-1 with Al-Ahli. Al-Najma were held to a 1-1 draw by Al-Shoa’la.
Ittihad were stunned early by Al-Raid’s Bandar Al-Aliqi, who scored in the 11th minute. Though Ittihad’s Manaf Abu Shaqir struck back promptly five minutes later, Raid were not yet ready to concede an easy win to Ittihad. Raid’s Sultan Al-Saeed then scored in the 37th minute again, spurring Ittihadis into determined attack.
Ahmad Khoraish and Brazilian Landomar hit back at the 51st and 53rd minutes to give Ittihad victory. Ittihad retained their first position with 18 points, while Raid fell to 10th with only three points.
Zakaria’s eighth minute goal helped Qadisiya establish their superiority over Al- Nasr in Riyadh. Sezer brought Al-Nasr level in the 52nd minute by converting a penalty kick. But Qadisiya’s victory was ensured by Saeed Al-Wadaani’s goal in the 71st minute. This win put Qadisiya in second place with 15 points.
In a lackluster game in Hail, a self-goal by a Tai’e player spared Ahli’s blushes as the two teams shared points. In Unaiza, Nawaf Al-Daajani scored for Shoa’la in the 34th minute. Najma’s equalizer came from a long shot by Ahmad Al-Harbi in the 43rd minute. Shoa’la now have 11 points while Najma are in the last position.
