JEDDAH, 30 May 2003 — It was celebration night in the city on Wednesday as supporters of Al-Ittihad club took to the streets to mark their side’s 3-2 triumph over archrival Al-Ahli and victory in the King Fahd Cup Soccer final in Riyadh. Ittihad fans stayed up all night dancing and reveling at the club headquarters. The players, who arrived early, yesterday were met at the airport by many of the fans and were given a rousing welcome at the club.
Talal Bin Mansour, Ittihad honorary member, expressed his happiness at the side winning the trophy. He said: “Many people doubted Ittihad’s ability to win the trophy prior to the final. But the players had promised me that they would prevail, and they have kept their promises.”
Mansour Al-Balawi, general supervisor of the first team, said that this trophy was the result of an intense hard work. He said, “Thank God we won the trophy, and we did it because we met the easiest team (to beat) in the tournament. I thank Hilal and Nasr fans for supporting our team. I was very confident that my team would be triumphant.”
Hassan Jamjoom, president of Ittihad club, expressed his joy that finally the team’s effort paid off. And they have won the trophy for the fourth time in seven years.
He said: “We played a very strong match against our rival. I have to give credit to Ahli for putting up a strong performance despite being one player down. We thank our new coach, Khalid Al-Guruni, for this accomplishment. I wish he would continue coaching our team for the next season.” Guruni, a Saudi national, has not yet signed a contract with Ittihad for the season.
On the other hand Prince Mansour Bin Meshal, honorary member of Ahli club, expressed his disappointment at the referee’s handling of the match.
He also blamed Ahli coach Elia for the result. He said that the coach kept important players on the bench, especially Bushayeb Limbarki.
He said, “I think everybody who saw the game also saw the mistakes by the referee. I wonder why he did not give Bassm Al-Yami the red card after he intentionally stopped the ball by his hand and when pulled Talal Al-Meshal down late in the first half. If Bassm had been red carded, that would have changed the course of the game. Again the corner kick, from which the third goal came, shouldn’t have been awarded in the first place. Our effort for the whole season went up in air because of his mistakes.”
Ahli player Abdullah Al-Waked said: “First of all I congratulate. They deserve to win. We lost because of the referee’s poor judgment. The Ittihadi defender should have been shown the red card handling. And then the referee red carded Ibrahim Suwyed, who deserved it, but did not give the red card to Muhammad Nur, who instigated the whole thing. I promise that we will bring home the trophy next season.”
After the game, Ahli fired coach Elia. The decision was not because of the result as Ahli and Elia had already decided to part ways.
Al-Ahli will keep Muhammad Barakat and Khalid Badra for another season while Bushayeb Limbarki will go back to his original club in Qatar, Al-Saad. Abdullah Al-Waked may not remain with Ahli for another season. He is most likely to go back to his original club Al-Shabab or transfer to Al-Hilal.
