JEDDAH, 6 April 2007 — “Ittihad will be different in Jeddah,” “Ittihad never loses a match in front of home crowds,” and “We delayed qualifying for the final until we play in Jeddah,” were some of the statements by Al-Ittihad team captain and midfielder Muhammad Nur after their first leg 1-0 defeat to Al-Ittifaq in Dammam.
Yesterday, Nur’s words rang true as the home team, in the return leg of the Crown Prince Cup semifinals, turned in a totally different display to the one in the first leg en route to a spot in the final.
At the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium here, Ittihad’s panache proved too much for Ittifaq to handle and egged on by a large crowd Ittihad ran up a crushing 4-1 verdict (4-2 aggregate) against Ittifaq, who simply folded in the face of a spectacular Ittihad performance.
Ittihad came determined to win the match amid a pressured must-win situation, knowing fully-well that one false step would puncture their chances. The only consolation they had prior to the tie was the knowledge that a 1-0 lead could easily be surmounted.
And this must have spurred the Ittihadis to new heights. And it was the night of Reda Tukar and Renaldo Olivera. Ittihad equalized the aggregate in the fifth minute with Reda Tukar opening the scoring. Then three minutes later they hit Ittifaq with another strike, this time by Olivera.
With the position suddenly reversed, from a goal advantage to a goal down, Ittifaq regrouped quickly and shored up the defense line while launching swift attacks. And in the tenth minute drew level on aggregate through a Saleh Basheer goal.
After a frenetic ten-minute goal burst, the teams slowed the pace, content to string sporadic raids after a protracted midfield battle. In the 25th minute Olivera came up trumps again and gave the lead to Ittihad 3-1 and 3-2 in aggregate to put the hosts ahead at the break.
In the second half Ittihad took the upper hand and were in charge of the match. They boxed in Basheer with some effective shackling and Ittifaq’s attack suddenly lacked tooth. Tukar, advantage of the poor defending by Ittifaq, sealed the match with a nice shot from inside the penalty box that went to the right hand side of the goalie.
Ittihad now await the winner between Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. Ahli will face Hilal in the return match after Ahli defeated Hilal 2-0 at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium in Jeddah in the first leg match. The 2-0 lead may not be a comfortable result to defend especially with Hilal playing in front of their home crowd.
If Ahli wins the match then this will be the second final they will be contesting this season after winning the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Cup by defeating Ittihad 3-0.
