JEDDAH, 19 February 2005 — Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad, as expected, went through to the quarterfinals but the third team in the Big Three of Kingdom soccer, Ah-Ahli, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of lowly Al-Watani at the end of round of 16 matches yesterday in the Crown Prince Cup soccer tournament.
Watani played inspired soccer all evening before their home crowd in Tabuk to beat Ahli on penalty kicks 5-3 after the regulation and extra times were tied at 2-2.
That left Ahli as the only seeded team to miss the bus to the round of eight as Hilal defeated Raid 1-0 of Qassim in Riyadh and Ittihad blasted Najran 5-0 in Jeddah.
Ittihad found no difficulty eliminating Najran of Najran scoring their two quick goals for Ittihad in the first 10 minutes of the game. Najran was no match against the well-organized Ittihad team.
The Brazilian international player, Sergio, scored the third goal for Ittihad in the 30th minute to hit the turn 3-0.
Ittihad totally dominated Najran and Sergio struck for his second marker in the 84th minute before the final goal of the match came four minutes later courtesy of Marzooq Al-Otaibi who slammed home a nice cross from Manaf Abu Shgeer. An 11th minute goal by Muhammad Al-Shalhoub from a nice free kick outside the penalty box proved the only needed burst for Hilal.
The writing was on the wall for Ahli when the home team moved ahead 2-1 during the penalty shootout. The defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for Ahli who had qualified in the finals of the competition the past three years.
Earlier, Al-Wehda of Makkah eliminated Ohod of Madinah after winning 4-2 in extra time in Makkah. Wehda was first to score in the 25th minute of the first half through Hani Al-Jiffri. Ohod equalized in the 73rd minute on a goal by Muaz Ali. Al-Jiffri of Wehda came in the 77th minute and scored the second goal for Wehda before Waleed Al-Olaiyani of Ohod leveled the score a second time to end the regulation period at 2-2.
Eleven minutes into the first extra time, Kazdi of Wehda scored the third goal. Alaa Al-Kuwaikbi added another goal for Wehda in the 13th minute of the second extra period.
