JEDDAH, 17 September 2003 — The Saudi Youth (under-17) team emerged champions of the Arabian Gulf Soccer Tournament with a 2-1 defeat of the United Arab Emirates youth team in Qatar on Monday.
Khalid Balqasim and Olayan Kessi scored the Saudi goals in the 18th and 20th minutes respectively after Essa Obaied scored for UAE in the 10th minute. The result left Saudi Arabia champions for the second time after gaining 15 points with five victories.
Meanwhile, the president of Al-Taie club held an emergency meeting with honorary members of the club and decided to sack the coach and the supervisor of Taie soccer team. There are strong indications that Former Qadisiya coach Khalid Al-Ajlani, who took Qadisiya to the third spot last season, is likely to take over the coaching chores at Al Taie.
Arab League
Championship
In the recent draw for the Arab League Championship Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal were drawn against Syrian teams, while Al-Ahli of Jeddah will take on Qadisiya of Kuwait.
The draw, which took place in Lebanon, pits Al-Zawra of Iraq against Aqsa of Palestine, Wehdat of Jordan against Olympic of Lebanon, Kuwait of Kuwait against Refa of Bahrain, Faisali of Jordan against Nasr of Oman and Talaba of Iraq against Shabaab of Yemen. All these 16 teams belong to the Asian Group.
In the African Group, Ahli of Egypt meet Hasna Agadeer of Morocco, Hilal of Sudan go up against Taraji of Tunisia, Safaqisi of Tunisia will play against Hilal of Libya, Zamalek of Egypt play Reyadi of Mauritania, Najim of Tunisia take on Ittihad of Libya, Ittihad Baledah of Algeria against Al-Fasi of Morocco, Ismaili of Egypt play Muledeya of Algeria and Naser Hussein of Algeria have drawn Al-Mariekh of Sudan.
The first phase of the tournament will be played on Oct. 13,14 and 15 and the away games will be played on Oct. 20, 21 and 22.
The final is scheduled for May 23 next year.
