JEDDAH, 6 March 2008 — Al-Wehda held Al-Ittihad to a 1-1 draw in an explosive pending match in the Saudi Premier League football tournament at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here yesterday.
Before a large home crowd rooting hard for an Ittihad victory Wehda played hard enough to frustrate their rivals while giving Al-Hilal a lift in the race to the title.
Had Ittihad won the task at hand would seem next to impossible for Hilal
Wehda were relatively better than Ittihad in the first half with Essa Al-Muhayyani shaking Ittihad’s defense line and threatening to score on several occasions for Wehda. He succeeded in the 24th minute with a penalty kick that was awarded to Ittihad for tackling Ahmad Al-Mousa inside the penalty box. Al-Muhayyani slotted the ball home in the right hand side of the goalie.
The goal fired up Wehda’s game but it failed to dampen Ittihad’s resolve as the Jeddah-based club met Wehda with an equal force in attacking in search of an equalizer.
Ittihad did not have to wait for long as they struck with a goal in the 28th minute through the Brazilian player Alves who unleashed a solo effort to take the ball inside Wehda’s penalty box passing a defender and shooting the ball past the right hand side of the goalie.
The second half was well played as both teams battled gamely for the go-ahead goal. Wehda were looking to add the three points to move up the standings while Ittihad were eyeing that would increase the gap on second-placed Hilal. Instead, the match ended 1-1, which was not in advantage to Ittihad who are in first place on 47 points.
Wehda are in sixth position on 25 points. Hilal are second with 39 points but with three pending matches.
Ittihad’s best hope is for Hilal to lose in one of those matches at least to guarantee Ittihad a top spot. If Hilal win the three pending matches they will top Ittihad with 48 points. The league resumes next Thursday.
