JEDDAH, 20 September 2003 — The form book in the King Fahd Premier Soccer League was restored yesterday, after a major upset a day earlier, with Al-Ittihad leading the charge of fancied clubs.
At the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here, Ittihad handed Al-Ittifaq of Dammam a 5-0 drubbing, as Al-Nasr staged a fine rally to defeat Al-Khaleej 2-1, Al-Shabab trouncing Al-Riyadh 3-1 in a Riyadh derby and Al-Shoala clipping Al-Taie 1-0 in the other encounters for the day.
Al-Nasr took the lead through Torinio in the 17th minute, but they were stunned with a 43rd minute equalizer from Ayman Al-Abbas as Khaleej hoped to sustain their fine start to the league. But Nasr, midway through the second half, were lifted by a Abdulrahman Al-Bishi strike and they held on to gain full points and stay second behind front-runners Ittihad.
Pace-setters Ittihad, who notched up their fifth victory in five outings to remain the only team to boast of a cent percent winning record still in the league, literally toyed with Ittifaq as they ran up a 3-0 score by the break. Abdullah Al-Wakid opened up the floodgates with a spectacular strike from the set piece in the 14th minute. Wakid struck low and true to the near post and the ball slid past the jumping Ittifaq wall with the bemused goalkeeper left covering the far post.
Then prolific striker Muhammad Nur again got into the act with a superb solo effort in the 27th minute. Latching on to a through ball, Nur worked his way past the defenders, lured the goalkeeper out and then neatly essayed the ball into the net after a fine move that evaded the goalkeeper challenge.
And six minutes later, Bassem Al-Yami showed fine opportunism as he redirected a corner kick through a cluster of players with a fine first-time volley.
Ittifaq, after a half that they would have liked to put behind them, found their cup of woes overflowing in the second half too. With only eight minutes elapsed on the clock, Ittifaq were reduced to ten men as they lost one of their players for robust play.
Ittihad, already in a strong position, ran rings round the hapless Ittifaq and racked up two more to end the day on an impressive note. The fourth and fifth goals came within the space of 13 minutes with both coming off Hassan Al-Yami’s boots. The fourth goal was scored in the 75th minute of play.
Ittihad now have 15 points and with only Nasr, at 13 within striking distance, they are threatening to run away with the league. Al-Wehda, who beat Al-Hilal on Thursday, are now in third position with nine points and Shabab, who won yesterday, are in fourth spot with eight.
