JEDDAH, 6 December 2004 — The first round of Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Under 23 Soccer Tournament ended with Al-Ittifaq, Al-Riyadh, Al-Qadisiya and Al-Wahda on top of groups A, B, C and D in that order.
Al-Nasr snatched a 2-1 victory over Al-Ittihad on a pair of goals by Muhammad Al- Zahrani in a match at Prince Faisal ibn Fahd stadium in Riyadh.
Al-Zahrani drew first blood right in the second minute of the first half for Nasr then added another goal in the 56th minute. The Brazilian player Sergio scored the only goal for Ittihad from a penalty kick. With two losses against Riyadh and Nasr, Ittihad’s faces a difficult task in Group B.
Ittifaq, the defending champion, is on top of Group A with 6 points from two wins against Al-Shabab 1-0 and Al-Taie 5-1. Shabab is second with 3 points and Taie last with zero points. In Group C, Qadisiya leads with 6 points from two wins against Al-Ahli 1-0 in Jeddah and against Ohod 2-1.
In Group D, Wahda stunned Al-Hilal 3-2 in Sharayie Stadium in Makkah. Hilal was put first on the scoresheet by Desilva in the first half where another goal in the 17th minute was scored by Muhammad Anbar.
Wahda came back strongly scoring all three goals in the second half in a brilliant comeback that rocketed Wahda to the top of the group with six points. Amido struck in the first minute of the second half, and with Wahda gaining momentum two more goals were scored on the 49th and 70th minutes by Naser Al-Shamrani and Esa Al-Muhayyani respectively. Hilal trails Wahda with 3 points. and last is Al-Ansar with zero points.
