Hilal and Shabab share points in Riyadh match

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Al-Hilal and Al-Shabab shared four goals in the Saudi Zain Profession League at Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium Thursday.

The league leader, Hilal and the runner-up, Shabab have put up an excellent match that ended 2-2 to keep the standing unchanged.

Shabab started pressing forward to earn an early goal. A header from Shabab striker Nasser Al-Shamrani just missed the goal. Abdul Aziz Al-Sa’aran lost a real chance to score in the 18th minute.

Shabab defenders made serious mistakes outside their zone. Neves of Hilal, who is known for his skilful kicks to score from outside the box, kicked twice. His first shot hit the post but the second went into the right corner of the Shabab goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah.
Shalhoub received the ball outside the area in the 38th minute. Shabab defenders expected that the midfielder would make a pass. Instead, Shalhoub kicked to score the second goal.

In the 46th minute, Al-Hilal former player Tariq Al-Ta’ib passed to Nasser Al-Shamrani who kicked but Deayea foiled the attempt. The ball found Camacho who tapped it home.

Shabab defenders continued making mistakes outside. The giant goalkeeper of Shabab succeeded to block a strong kick by the Hilal’s Romanian midfielder, Meriel Radoi.

In the 68th minute, Hilal Korean right defender, Young Lee brought down the Angolan striker of Shabab. Nasser Al-Shamrani kicked from the spot. Deayea blocked the ball to find Camacho scoring again.

With this draw, Hilal is still on top of the league with 26 points followed by Shabab (23). points. Title holder, Al-Ittihad is third with 15 points.

In another match, Al-Hazm defeated its host Najran 4-2 at Al-Okhdoud Club Stadium.

Ittifaq defeats Ittihad 2-1

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Al-Ittifaq defeated its guest Al-Ittihad 2-1 in their postponed match of the Saudi Zain Professional League at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium Tuesday.

It was not only Al-Ittifaq which enjoyed the taste of victory over the title holder, but the league leader Al-Hilal (25 points) and Al-Shabab (22) also benefited from Al-Ittihad’s failure to collect points.

Mohammed Noor put Al-Ittihad in the lead in the 21st minute by heading in a Hicham Aboucherouane’s cross.

In the second half, Abdurrahman Al-Qahtani scored from the spot in the 59th minute after Al-Ittifaq striker Hamad Al-Hamad was brought down by Al-Ittihad defender Ahmed Hadeed.

About 10 minutes later, Ittifaq striker Hussein Al-Nej’e scored the winning goal.

The match witnessed aggressive performance from many members of both teams. Referee Abdurrahman Al-Amri flashed five cards at each team. Two of these were red shown to Al-Ittihad midfielders Mohammed Noor and Saud Kariri.

Kariri was sent off in the 62nd minutes while Noor was red-carded in the 95th minute.

Al-Ittihad is in the third place with 15 points with two matches in hand while Al-Ittifaq stays at the bottom with five points and one match in hand.