JEDDAH, 28 May 2005 — Saudi Arabia and Bahrain battled to a 1-1 draw in a soccer friendly international yesterday at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
Playing at full strength, the Saudi national team leveled matters with a beautifully executed goal in the first half.
Both teams failed to buy a goal in the last half of the contest but there were many creative plays and excellent chances for the hosts and the visiting squad.
The friendly forms part of the Kingdom’s tuneup for important World Cup qualifying matches, both at home, against Kuwait and Uzbekistan.
The Saudis, moving better with the ball unlike the last time when they beat Morocco 1-0 in a lackluster game, were the dominant side. They kept pushing forward right in the early minutes of the contest.
Saeed Adnan put Bahrain up 1-0 when he flicked in a goal in the 18th minute.
The Saudi equalizer was the result of a slick passing play that began with Mohamed Shalhoub at the top of the penalty box.
Shalhoub passed the ball across to team captain Sami Al-Jaber on the right side. Al-Jaber, who was unmarked, then fired a beautiful cross inside the box to Saud Kariri who nearly lost his footing as he powered home an acrobatic shot in the 34th minute.
In the second half, the Saudis were largely in control and towards the end of the match made several good chances but then the Bahraini goal and defenders rose to fend off the attempts.
In Tokyo, Japan’s problems continued when they lost 1-0 to the United Arab Emirates in the Kirin Cup exhibition tournament yesterday.
Haidar Alo Ali scored the only goal in the 68th minute after racing on to a perfect through pass from Nawaf Mubarak and sliding the ball past Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. Japan, using the tournament as a warm-up for two World Cup qualifiers, against Bahrain on June 3 and North Korea on June 8, also lost 1-0 in the opening match of the tournament against Peru.
