JEDDAH, 29 August 2003 — Al-Shabab and Al-Ahli began their King Fahd Soccer Tournament campaign with victories yesterday, but it was Shabab who caught the eye with a 7-0 demolition job on Al-Taie.
Al-Ahli held on to a Waleed Al-Jizan goal for a solitary goal win over Al-Wehda in a tight match at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium here.
The victory was striking because of Ahli’s poor performance in the recently-concluded Sadaka event. But yesterday, last year’s runners-up showed that they will be a force to reckon with again this year.
In the third match of the day, Al-Ittifaq and Al-Hilal played out a goalless draw at the Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Stadium in Dammam.
But fireworks were literally reserved at the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Stadium in Riyadh where Shabab kicked of the Kingdom’s soccer season in fine style. Playing cohesive and incisive soccer, Shabab unleashed a barrage of goals against Taie in a match which saw two firsts.
Senegal’s Menga recorded the first hat trick of the league when he smashed in three goals in the 3rd 63rd and 88th minutes. And the match saw the first red card, which as given to Taie’s goalkeeper Fahd Al-Shammary in the 82nd minute. Shammary peppered by a constant stream of strikes finally lost it and was given the marching orders by the referee.
The other scorers were Ghanian Athram (25th), Zaid Al-Mowalled (33rd) and Abdul Mohsen Al-Dossary (34th) and Faisal Al-Obaily converted a 82nd minute penalty.
Today, Al-Nasr plays Al-Shoala in Riyadh, Al-Qadisiya takes on Al-Riyadh in Dammam and champions Al-Ittihad meets Al-Khaleej in Alkhobar.
The 28th edition of the league has 12 teams participating. They are Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Shabab, Al-Hilal, Al-Nasr, Al-Ittifaq, Al-Riyadh, Al-Shoala, Al-Taie, Al-Qadisiya, Al -Wehda and Al-Khaleej.
