JEDDAH, 14 January 2005 — Al-Ahli Club of Jeddah returned from Casablanca with an important point scored against Al-Wedad of Morocco after both teams tied 1-1 in the Arab League Championship Wednesday night.
The third Saudi side to play Arab League matches in successive days after Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad, Ahli did not disappoint despite playing in front of more than 50,000 Moroccan fans in what was described as the best match in the tournament thus far.
Ahli had hoped to get a win or draw in Morocco to advance as the top Group D team. Ahli faced many difficulties, among them the absence of many key players because of injury and cold weather, so that a win was out of the question. And to compound Ahli’s handicap their best player and team captain, Hussein Abdul Ghani, was shown the red card for hitting a player. Down to 10 players Ahli had to retreat back to their half side of the field to parry Wedad’s incessant attacks.
Ahli had to play with one striker, Waleed Al-Jizani, in front. Ahli relied heavily on fast counter attacks and put six players on defense.
Ahli scored the first goal from a penalty kick when Waleed Al-Jizani was tackled inside the penalty box.
The Brazilian international player Rogero converted the penalty award in the 45th minute.
The entire second half was dominated by Al-Wedad in a determined effort to score the equalizer and save face in front of their home crowd.
The equalizer came in the 59th minute courtesy of Muhammad Madihi. After the goal, Al-Wedad pushed forward in search of a winner that didn’t come as a strong Ahli defense thwarted each and every attempt.
The star of the match, Ahli goalie Mansour Al-Najaie, executed several fine saves in a gallant performance that served as the last line of defense for his team.
The consecutive draw pushed Ahli to third in the group with 2 points. Naser Hussein of Algeria leads the group with 4 points.
The second round matches will pit Ahli against Naser Hussein in Jeddah on Jan. 22, Ittihad against Ghazl Al-Mahalla of Egypt in Egypt on Jan. 25 and and Hilal against Al-Esmaeili of Egypt in Egypt on Jan 26.
