JEDDAH, 2 November 2006 — Saudi Arabia got their campaign firmly on track following a draw with an impressive 2-0 victory over Malaysia in the AFC Youth Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore, India yesterday.
Goals by Mohamed Al-Sahlawi and Ali Ataif off free kicks gave 10-man Saudi Arabia a well-deserved victory. The Kingdom drew with Iraq 2-2 in their first match.
Al-Sahlawi opened the Saudi scoring in the 13th minute and Ataif scored the second and what proved to be the final goal in the 60th minute. The Saudis played the last 13 minutes without substitute Ahmed Al-Fraidi who was shown the red card for a hard tackle on Malaysian skipper Mohamed Aidil Zafuan Abd Razak.
“We have brought out campaign back on track,” Saudi coach Gilson Nunes was quoted as saying on the AFC website after the match. “We have to keep up the momentum now. We have to improve our consistency.”
Both teams had practically the same lineups from the previous outing. Nunes reshuffled at midfield, bringing in Ali Ataif in place of Ahmed Al Fraidi and Abdulaziz Al Dawsari for the talented Ahmad Kabee, while Malaysian tactician K Rajagopal replaced Mohd Nasriq Baharom with Mohammad Farid Ramli in the right of defense.
