Shabab beats Nasr, sits 2nd in standings

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Runner-up Al-Shabab continued chasing the Zain Saudi Professional League leader Al-Hilal after defeating nine-man Al-Nasr 3-2 at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh Friday.

Striker Nasser Al-Shamrani put Al-Shabab in the lead just before the break. Argentinean midfielder Victor Alberto Figueroa equalized for Nasr after the break, but Abdullah Shuhail put Shabab one up only for Nasr’s Figueroa to level the game again. Abdullah Al-Ostta, however, gave Shabab the winning goal in the 67th minute.

Shabab is second in the standings with 33 points, five behind Al-Hilal. On the other hand, Nasr is seventh with 15 points.

Although Shabab played without two of its key players - Tariq Al-Ta’ib and Marcelo Ramiro Camacho - the team succeeded in securing all the three points from the encounter.

Nasr keeper Khaled Radhi was sin-binned for bringing down Naji Majrashi on the line of the box in the fifth minute. Abdu Barnawi was then replaced with the second keeper, Abdullah Al-Enezi.

Shabab, however, succeeded in securing a goal only in the 47th minute when Nasser Al-Shamrani headed an Abdullah Shuhail cross into the goal.

Two minutes after the break, Nasr’s Figueroa dribbled through three defenders to put the ball in the right corner of Shabab keeper Waleed Abdullah to level the score at 1-1.

Shuhail put Shabab back in the front when he deceived the keeper to put the ball in the top right corner of the goal.

Figueroa equalized the score once again in the 67th minute when he dribbled past two defenders to kick the ball in the left bottom of the goal.

A minute after the goal, Abdullah Al-Ostta put Shabab ahead for good when he headed the ball into the empty goal after Al-Enezi had left the goal in an attempt to save the situation.

In the other match of the day Al-Ittifaq played out a goalless match against 10-man guest team Al-Ahli at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam.

The drawn game concluded the 14th round of the league leaving Al-Ahli in the fourth place in the standings while Al-Ittifaq sits 10th with 10 points.

The next round will kick off Thursday with three encounters - Hilal vs. Nasr; Al-Ahli vs. Shabab; and Fateh vs. Ittifaq.

Al-Hilal beats Al-Wehda despite a ‘goal’ being declared void

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Al-Hilal increased its lead at the top of the Zain Saudi Professional League standings beating Al-Wehda 3-1 despite a goal being declared void at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium Thursday afternoon.

The match was moved in the afternoon due to the cold weather the Central Region is experiencing these days.

Yasser Al-Qahtani put Al-Hilal in the lead in the 22nd minute while Mohammed Al-Shalhoub, the league’s top scorer with 10 goals, doubled the lead in the 63rd minute. Both goals came through cross passes by the Swedish midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson, who has renewed his contract with Al-Hilal for another two seasons.

Muhanned Aseeri scored the visitors’ lone goal in the 78th minute. Thiago Neves, however, sealed the win from the spot in the 89th minute after Wehda defender Majid Bilal had brought down Wilhelmsson in the area.

Hilal President, Prince Abdurrahman Bin Musa’ad, said after the match that they will ask the General Presidency of Youth Welfare to depute foreign referees for the remaining matches.

The demand came after referee Abdurrahman Al-Amri, depending on a signal from the linesman Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, declared Wilhelmsson’s “goal” void.
Wilhelmsson had kicked the ball from inside the area. His ball hit the bar and fell behind the goal line before bouncing back to the bar and falling in front of the goal line. It was not declared a goal.

Commenting on the incident in an interview with a TV channel, Abdul-Moa’tti Kaki, Al-Wehda president, said the goal should have stood. Though, he claimed that Hilal’s first goal should not have been a goal since Qahtani was offside. He also suspected the accuracy of the referee’s decision on Hilal penalty kick.

Hilal sits on top of the standings with 38 points, eight ahead of runner-up Al-Shabab. Al-Wehdah remains fifth on 17 points.

Hazm beat Al-Fateh 2-1 at Al-Hazm Club Stadium in Al-Russ city in the other afternoon encounter.

Salahuddin Eqal put Hazm in front four minutes after the break. Al-Hazm goalkeeper Saeed Al-Harbi then saved his team from a certain goal when he blocked a penalty taken by Tunisian defender Ramzi Younos in the 55th minute.

The five-minute extra time witnessed two goals. Yahiya Majrashi first scored for Al-Hazm in the 91st minute, while Al-Fateh’s Emanuel scored from the spot seconds before time.

The winner is eighth in standings with 15 points, while Al-Fateh is sixth with 17 points.

Champion Al-Ittihad beat Al-Raed 3-2 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium. Amine Chermiti put Ittihad in front in the 17th minute before his teammate Hicham Aboucherouane doubled the lead six minutes later.

The Malian striker of the guest team, Javier About, helped decrease the lead in the 66th minute before Mousa Al-Shammari leveled the score from the spot in the 78th minute. However, it was only one minute later that Chermiti sealed the win for Ittihad.

Al-Ittihad is third on 23 points, while Al-Raed remains in the bottom with six points.

In another match, Al-Qadasiya edged 1-0 over its guest Najran at Prince Saud Bin Jalawi Stadium.

Sultan Al-Yami scored the only goal of the game in the second minute of the encounter that was marked by 10 yellow cards - five for each team.
Al-Qadasiya is 9th on 11 points, while Najran is 11th on seven.

Owairan strike 3rd among top 10 Cup goals

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, President of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW), received Monday in his office in Riyadh the former Saudi national football player Saeed Al-Owairan who earned the distinction of scoring one of the top 10 great goals in World Cup Finals.

The Telegraph and World Soccer Magazine, which teamed up to find out the greatest goals of World Cup Finals, have recorded Owairan’s goal against Belgium in the first round of World Cup 1994 at the RFK stadium as the third best.

The Daily Telegraph said in its report that despite the exit in the second round Saudis left the USA World Cup with their heads high due to that strike of Al-Owairan – which earned him the nickname “The Maradona of the Arabs”. However, the real Maradona’s goal against England in 1986 came first. The second was again by Maradona in the same ‘86 World Cup against Belgium.

After losing the opener 2-1 to Holland Saudi Arabia beat Morocco by the same score and needed just a draw against Belgium to ensure qualification for the second round.

But Saudis did better. Just five minutes after the kick-off Owairan took possession deep inside the Saudi half, looked up and dribbled the ball forward and Belgians fell back, waiting for him to pass the ball. Owairan, instead, continued his way towards the goal and fired past goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme.

Owairan scored 24 goals in 50 international appearances and was also a member of the Saudi squad at the 1998 World Cup.

Prince Sultan congratulated Owairan and also offered prize money for what he has contributed to the Saudi sports.

The meeting was also attended by Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal, Deputy President of the GPYW.

Al-Hilal 5 points clear at the top

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Al-Hilal increased its lead in the Saudi Zain Professional League after defeating host Najran 2-1 at the conclusion of Round 13 at Al-Okhdoud Club Stadium Sunday.

The 37-year-old striker Al-Hasan Al-Yami scored an early goal for Najran in the 8th minute. Yami dribbled into the box before kicking into the right corner of goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Deayea.

Al-Hilal’s Romanian midfielder Meriel Radoi shot from outside the box in the 24th minute to level the score. Hilal coach Gerets noticed the ineffectiveness of his striker Eisa Al-Muhiyyani and replaced him with Nawaf Al-Abed in the 38th minute. The two teams ended the first half with one goal each.

In the 87th minute, South Korean defender, Young Lee sent a perfect cross to Al-Abed who headed into the goal.

Al-Hilal is now on top of the standing with five points clear of runner-up Al-Shabab. Najran is 11th with seven points.

Al-Shabab shared two goals with its host Al-Wehdah at King Abdul Aziz Sports City Stadium.

Shabab thus lost two important points, missing the chance to catch the leader Al-Hilal.

Libyan midfielder Tariq Al-Ta’ib scored for the guest in the 76th minute. While the Wehdah supporters were about to leave their seats, their Moroccan midfielder Rafiq Abdul-Samad scored an equalizer in the 90th minute.

After this draw, Al-Shabab is second on the table with 30 points while Al-Wehdah is fifth with 17.

In another match, a goal by Rayyan Bilal gave Al-Nasr three points from its encounter against Al-Ittifaq at Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium.

The two teams started the match cautiously. However, they were not lucky enough to score.

The best chance for the guest came when Yahiya Al-Shihri entered the box and kicked toward the goal, but the ball hit the bar.

Al-Nasr performance improved and its players started attacking the goal. Midfielder Khaled Al-Zaila’ee came from the right side to send a cross into the box where Bilal escaped the defenders to head in to the goal from a gliding position.

Al-Nasr is seventh on the standing with 15 points while Ittifaq is 12th with nine points.