JEDDAH, 2 May 2008 — Al-Hasan Keta injected life into an Al-Ittihad team fighting to save their season when he scored a hat trick of goals in a 4-1 victory over Al-Hilal last night in the first leg of the semifinal match in the King’s Cup for Champions at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
Determined not to waste their last chance for a championship crown in this tournament, Ittihad played inspired football all night long to get the better of Hilal.
The victory avenged Ittihad’s 1-0 defeat in the finale that cost the Jeddah Tigers the Saudi Premier League title and handed Hilal a Crown Prince Cup and league double.
Ittihad strike force Keta and Muhammad Nur were the stars of the match. While everything seemed to fall into place for Ittihad, Hilal struggled to find their form and scored their only goal of the match in the 71st minute courtesy of Abdul Aziz Al-Khatran.
After opening the Ittihad account with a penalty goal in the 19th minute the irrepressible Nur made all three goals of Keta.
Keta slammed home his first goal in the 68th minute then found the net again in the 82nd minute.
And Ittihad ended the match with a flourish after yet another goal from Keta in the 94th minute. With a three-goal lead and the second leg again to be played in Jeddah next Thursday, Ittihad have excellent chances of making the final of the last tournament of the season. Al-Shabab and Al-Hazem, meantime, open their home-and-away semifinal series today in Al-Rass.
