JEDDAH, 23 February 2007 — Al-Hilal and Najran joined Al-Ahli, Al-Shabab and Al-Faisali in the quarterfinals of the Crown Prince Cup Soccer Competition with contrasting victories against Al-Wehda and Al-Qadisiya respectively.
The biggest surprise of the competition came in Najran when the hosts Najran, a first division outfit in the Saudi league, pulled off a stunner against a premier side. Making the most of their home advantage Najran did most of the running in their 2-1 defeat of Qadisiya. Najran advanced for the first time to the quarterfinals of Crown Prince Cup Competition and will be hoping to continue their giant-killing feat when they come up against the winner of the Al-Ittihad and Al-Taie match in Jeddah today.
But it was the day’s second encounter that had all the fans glued to their TV sets. In a match described as an early final, Hilal and Wehda, who are first and second in the Saudi league standing, did not disappoint the legion of soccer fans with a pulsating encounter at the King Fahd International stadium in Riyadh. Wehda, with young determined players, did the early running and looked likely contenders for the next round.
Wehda proved a tough opponent against the experienced Hilal in the first half with the Wehda pressure paying off in the 8th minute of the match. Wehda striker Issa Al-Muhayyani was tackled inside the penalty box and was awarded a penalty kick. Nasser Al-Shamrani stepped forward and put the ball to the left hand side of the goalkeeper.
Many expected Wehda to draw back and allowing Hilal space. But this did not happen. Though Hilal stepped up the pace in search of an equalizer, Wehda too kept up the tempo in a bid to boost their tally, Wehda responding to the Hilal attacks with swift counter attacks. Yaser Al-Qahtani, Hilal striker, was marked well by Wehda defense and that took the sting off Hilal’s attack.
Hilal nearly drew level in the 50th minute from a fine header by Fahd Al-Mufarrej, but the star of the match, Wehda goalkeeper Assaf Al-Qarni, nicely parried. Four minutes later, Rodrigo was tackled inside the penalty box and he scored from the resultant penalty.
Hilal hit the winner in the 74th minute when Al-Tayeb, following a fine run from the center, essayed the ball to Rodrigo, who shot true.
Al-Qarni, with some superlative saves denied Hilal any further success, but Wehda too could not add to their score and Hilal held on to advance. They will play the winner of Al-Hazem and Al-Jabalee match next.
