JEDDAH, 14 September 2006 — Saudi teams in the AFC Champions League had contrasting fortunes yesterday. Two-time defending champions Al-Ittihad started their bid for a third straight Champions League title with a fluent 2-0 quarterfinal first leg win over Syria’s Al Karama before their cheering supporters at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
But Al-Shabab, the reigning Saudi league champions, had elimination staring them in the face after a heavy 6-0 defeat by South Korean champions Ulsan Hyundai in the two-legged quarterfinal series in Korea.
Goals by Ittihad imports Alhassane Keita and Mexican Jade Borgetti on either side of halftime took the fight out of the Syrian squad as the hosts run their streak in the competition to eight matches.
In a mixed day for Korean teams, nine-man Chonbuk Motors suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Shanghai Shenhua.
World Cup player Lee Chun-soo, Lee Sang-ho and Choi Sung-kuk gave Ulsan a 3-0 halftime lead. Brazilian Leandro, Choi and substitute Machado added to the scoreline after the break.
Ulsan, who reached the quarterfinals by beating Tokyo Verdy twice in Group F, are overwhelming favorites to advance to the semis after next week’s second leg in Riyadh.
Chonbuk will also be confident of going through after restricting Shanghai to one goal, courtesy of Gao Lin in the 33rd minute.
Chonbuk’s Kim Hyeung-bum was sent off for kicking out at Gao minutes after the goal and, in the 77th minute, Brazilian substitute Raphael Botti was shown a red card for elbowing Sun Ji in the face.
Karama made their designs obvious in the opening minutes as Mohammed Kwid’s charges showed plenty of urgency in closing down the Ittihad players, giving them little time to settle on the ball.
Unfazed, Ittihad created few chances early on and their frustration showed as Redha Tukar picked up the first yellow card of the game in the 17th minute when he took down Mohamad Al-Hemi after being beaten for pace by the Karama striker.
The home side’s first real chance of the game came in the 19th minute when the ball was worked to the left wing to Manaf Abushgeer who sent over a dangerous low cross for Guinean winger Keita, who couldn’t direct his header on target.
Content to sit back in defense and play on the counterattack, Karama’s chances were few and far between in the opening half with their best opportunity falling to Mohamad Al-Hamwi, who cut in on goal in the 19th minute and fired a shot from the edge of the box, forced a diving save out of Mabrouk Zaid.
A free kick by Milenko Acimovic in the 25th minute was headed clear by Karama’s Brazilian defender Fabio Santos and from the resulting corner, goalkeeper Mosab Balhous was injured after clashing with Santos and Ittihad’s Saud Khariri.
Balhous was replaced by Adnan Al Hafez and the reserve ‘keeper found himself under pressure as Ittihad stepped up their attack. Khariri headed an Abushgeer free kick wide before Keita broke the deadlock two minutes before the break.
Borgetti slipped an exquisite through pass with his right outstep to Keita, who left Fabio Santos in his wake before blasting the ball past Al Hafez for the opening goal.
Borgetti then extended Ittihad’s lead a minute into the second half and Keita nearly added a third in the 58th minute with a shot that was mishandled by Al Hafez but hit the post before bouncing back into the grateful goalkeeper’s hands.
— With input from agencies
