JEDDAH, 28 December 2003 — Qatar and Bahrain played out a scoreless draw in the 16th Gulf Soccer Championship in Kuwait. With both the teams laying a heavy accent on defense, it was no wonder that goals were difficult to come by.
The match was restricted to the midfield with rarely a serious challenge being mounted from the either sides. Qatar were the more adventurous in the first 20 minutes of game but all their efforts came to a naught against a solid Bahraini backline.
And against the run of play, Bahrain almost scored in the 21st minute when Mahmoud Jalal’s free kick curled to the far post but the Qatari goalie managed to ward off the threat with a superb tip off.
The second half went the same pattern as the first with both the teams trying to establish midfield domination amid sporadic raids and counters. Bahrain were the more organized and did have the better of Qatar in the midfield battle, but again found the Qatari defense too tough to pierce.
Bahrain’s ploy of effectively marking Qatar’s attacker Mubarak Mustapha took the sting out of the Qatari attack and except for a desperate efforts in the last ten minutes of the game, in which Bahrain threw caution to the winds, the match was a pedantic struggle in the midfield.
Sulaiman Eisa almost scored in the 86th minute when raced to meet a fine cross with the Qatari goal open. But he fumbled the collection and the regrouping Qatari defenders warded off the threat. Then in injury time, Bahrain almost scored again from a corner kick.
Al-Ittihad Thump Al-Shola in Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Event
Al-Ittihad stayed in the hunt for a place in the knockout stage of the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Soccer Tournament with a 4-1 rout of Al-Shola yesterday.
Two goals by Ali Matrur and one apiece from Misfar Qahtani and Muhammad Amin enabled Ittihad to run out easy winners. For Shola Muhammad Al-Shehri scored.
In the other match of the day, Al-Qadisiya defeated Al-Wehda 2-1 with Muhammad Dossary and Saleh Al-Ghambar scoring for the winners and Kamel Al-Mousa reducing the margin.
On Friday, Al-Ahli defeated Al-Riyadh 2-1 and Al-Khaleej caused a flutter with an identical 2-1 verdict against Al-Nasr.
