MADINAH, 16 July 2005 — Al-Hilal were crowned King Fahd Cup champions yesterday after beating city rivals Al-Shabab 1-0 at the jampacked King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
At the final whistle, hordes of Hilal fans streamed onto the pitch in wild celebration following the victory that gave the Riyadh-based club a sweep of the major titles of the season after having won the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Cup and the Crown Prince Cup.
Crown Prince Abdullah presented the prestigious cup to Prince Muhammad ibn Faisal, chairman of Al-Hilal Club, and Sami Jaber, captain of the winning team. The crown prince also distributed medals to players of second and third place winning teams as well as club officials.
Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and senior princes and top officials including Riyadh Governor Prince Salman, Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, chief of the Youth Welfare Presidency, attended the match.
Earlier on arrival at King Fahd International Stadium, Prince Abdullah was given a standing ovation by a record crowd who packed the large sports complex.
Brazilian international Camacho was the hero for Hilal as he scored the only goal of the match in the 57th minute.
Camacho converted a direct free kick that rose above the wall of Shabab defenders and found the net like a guided arrow.
Shabab were the top finalists in the stepladder final with No. 2 Hilal getting a crack at them by beating third qualifier Al-Ittihad 1-0 in Riyadh last week.
Ittihad eliminated Al-Nasr 6-0 in the first match of the stepladder.
More than 65,000 fans, most of them Hilal supporters attended the match.
A team of Russian referees officiated the game. This was the fifth staging of the King Fahd Cup final.
The first half was totally dominated by Shabab who managed to keep Hilal trapped in their half of the field.
Hilal relied heavily on fast counterattacks by Al-Jaber and Camacho.
Muhammad Manga nearly scored for Shabab in the 5th, 15th and 16th minutes but all his attempts were foiled by Hilal defenders.
Hilal’s only attempt in the first half came from Muhammad Al-Shalhoub who managed to take the ball inside the penalty box but his effort went inches wide from the goalie.
