Al-Shabab lifts Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Cup

By Mohammed Al-Kinani

JEDDAH – Al-Shabab succeeded in retaining Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Cup beating Al-Hilal 2-1 at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh Thursday.

Eissa Al-Muhayani put Hilal in front five minutes before the break. However, Abdul-Malik Al-Khaibari of Shabab leveled the score in the second half before his teammate Ali Otaif sealed the win for the White Lions. The win also secured Shabab a spot in the GCC Club Championship.

Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal Bin Fahd, Deputy President of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, handed over the trophy to Shabab skipper Naif Al-Qadhi before giving away the gold medals to the team players. Prince Faisal also gave the winning team a cash prize of SR1 million.

Hilal players won the silver medals for their effort along with a cash prize of SR500,000.

Shabab dominated the first 20 minutes of match after which Hilal took over and also succeeded in scoring a goal five minutes before the break.

Hilal midfielder Mohammed Al-Shalhoub hit a perfectly placed kick from the corner and Muhayani headed it into the far right corner of Shabab keeper Waleed Abdullah.

Shabab equalized on an error committed by Hilal keeper when he failed to grab a cross kick and Al-Khaibari made the most of it by heading it into the Hilal goal.

Hilal coach replaced Shalhoub with Salman Al-Mua’asher after the goal in an attempt to boost his front line. This change, however, paved the way for Shabab to put more pressure on Hilal and score the winning goal.

This time it was Ali Otaif who put the ball into Hilal goal as soon as he received it in the 68th minute. The move was so sudden that Hilal defender Sultan Al-Bishi could not even make an attempt to save the goal.

Hilal coach then brought in Yasser Al-Qahtani in place of Ahmed Al-Furaidy. Qahtani, however, could not help Hilal change the result.

Shabab keeper Abdullah, however, did well to save a Hasan Khairat scorcher from inside the area to keep his team ahead. The four extra minutes went peacefully securing the win for Shabab.