JEDDAH, 24 January 2005 — Saudi clubs resume campaign in the Arab League Championship. Al-Ahli play host to Nasser Hussein of Algeria in Jeddah today. Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad see action tomorrow in Egypt against Al-Esmaeili and Ghazl Al-Mahalla.
The Hilal-Esmaeili tussle will decide the winner of Group C after both teams tallied six points on 2-0-0 win-draw-loss record.
Hilal go into the match with their backs against the wall. Six key players are on loan to the Saudi national team and four others are nursing injuries. But on the brighter side — and a relief to Hilal’s Brazilian coach Bactia — captain Sami Al-Jaber has confirmed he will join the team in Egypt where he will fly straight after the Haj.
The midfield at Hilal is expected to suffer in the absence of reliables Muhammad Al-Shalhoub and Khaled Aziz who are both in training camp for the national team along with Muhammad Al-Duaie, Ahmad Al-Dokhi, Muhammad Al-Anbar and Abdullah Al-Jamman, while Abdul Lateef Al-Ghannam and Omar Al-Ghamdi are among those injuried.
Ahli and Ittihad are in the same boat with Hilal — having to make do with under-strength sides as a result of national team duties and injuries.
The Algerian side Nasser Hussein hit town Saturday for the match against their Jeddah hosts. Ahli will be missing the services of four players called for training camp namely Mansour AL-Najaie, Hussein Abdul Ghani, Tayseer AL-Jasim and Waleed Al-Jizani.
The four others who were downed by injuries were Naief Al-Ghadi, Ali Al-Abdali, Talal Al-Meshal and the Brazilian player Keem whose partnership with Waleed Al-Jizani at the front is expected compund Ahli’s woes.
Of the three Saudi sides Ittihad are the hardest-hit in manpower. With 14 regulars gone Ittihad will be fielding a full second-string side against Al-Mahalla.
Reda Tukar, Hamad Al-Muntashiri, Abdul Majeed Al-Tarqi, Saleh AL-Sagri, Manaf Abu Shgeer, Saud Kariri, Hamza Idrees and Ibraheem Suwaeed are deep in training camp. Al-Hassan Al-Yami, Osama Al-Muwallad, Meshal AL-Saeed and Khamees Al-Zahrani are all injured, while Marzooq Al-Otaibi and Saeed Al-Wadani are serving suspensions for engaging in a fight against Ahli of Jeddah players in last year’s Arab League Championship. Ittihad is second of Group B with three points from one loss against Ahli of Qatar and one win against Wefaq Steef.
