JEDDAH, 8 July 2005 — Al-Hilal advanced to the final of King Fahd Cup soccer tournament when they beat Al-Ittihad 1-0 yesterday before thousands of cheering home crowd at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
Despite losing several key players either to injury or suspension, Hilal played smart against a full strength Ittihad side.
After Ittihad totally dominated the first half, Hilal stunned Ittihad and their fans early in the second half by scoring the only goal of the match — a perfectly executed free kick by striker Camacho in the 49th minute.
With star players captain Sami Al-Jaber and Mohammad Daie missing from the Hilal lineup, an Ittihad victory was widely expected.
But a resilient Hilal team that played defensive football in the first half before going on the attack in the second rewrote the script in the second match of the stepladder final.
The second qualifier Hilal now meet No. 1 Al-Shabab in the winner-take-all final next Wednesday in Jeddah.
The Hilal coach put Muhammad Al-Shalhoub in midfield for fast counter attacks and Camacho and Muhammad Al-Anbar in the front line.
Ittihad, who advanced to yesterday’s Hilal clash by beating Al-Nasr 6-0 in the first stepladder match last month, pushed forward from all sides with Muhammad Nur and Manaf Abushgair in midfield, Mesfer Al-Qahtani and Saleh Al-Sagri from the wings and Sergio Herrera in the front line.
Ittihad nearly scored a goal in the 29th minute after Nur took the ball inside the penalty box and gave a nice cross to Herrera.
The cross was cleared outside the box to the charging Saud Kariri who shot a strong ball that went dangerously on the left hand side of the goalie missing a perfect chance.
Ittihad stepped up their attacks keeping Hilal stranded on their half side of the field and relied on fast counter attacks by Al-Anbar. The first half was easily Ittihad’s.
Hilal, however, were an entirely different team in the last half of the battle.
While Hilal played resourceful soccer, a monumental mental lapse was committed by defender Osama Al-Muwallad who unnecessarily fouled Al-Anbar from the back outside the penalty box.
Hilal cashed in on this break as Camacho held his nerve to hit home the free kick that sailed over a wall of Ittihad defenders into the right corner of the net.
Ittihad coach shuffled his charges putting in two attackers and taking out one defender and midfielder.
This created a gap in the midfield which Hilal exploited.
Hilal took control of the midfield splitting the Ittihad defense. Hilal nearly scored the second goal when Camacho gave a nice cross inside the penalty box to Al-Anbar who was alone facing the goalkeeper in the 74th minute. But then Al-Anbar failed to put the goal in the back of the net.
Nacional Win Uruguayan Title as Rivals Boycott Playoff
In Montevideo, Nacional have been declared Uruguayan champions after opponents Defensor Sporting boycotted a two-leg playoff in protest at a refereeing decision, local media said yesterday, agency adds.
A meeting of the Uruguayan Football Association’s (AUF) executive committee voted by four to one to hand Nacional the 2005 Special championship title at a meeting on Wednesday night, reports said.
Unfashionable Defensor were set to win the title on Sunday until Nacional beat Rocha 3-2 with a controversial penalty awarded in the fifth minute of injury time to finish level on points 41 points from 17 games.
Defensor’s players, who had just beaten Cerrito 1-0, were waiting on the pitch to celebrate the title when Sebastian Abreu scored Nacional’s hotly-contested winner.
As goal difference is not used to settle the title, the teams were forced into a two-leg play-off on July 10 and 12.
Nacional are considered one of the big two clubs in Uruguayan football alongside Penarol.
The Special championship was a transitional tournament as Uruguayan football moved to a July-June season instead of following the calendar year.
