AL.hlaL 6 - 2 Jizan (389690524)

6912 spectators had come to AL.hlaL Arena this cloudy day. Alfred Cylke was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Enrique Sáenz Oliván and Francisco Iriarte. AL.hlaL decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Al-Ismail - Ahmed, Shareef, Gasser, Damghani - Sleiman, Juwayri, Al-Yaseen, Haj-Akil - Shareef, Haj-Hamdan.

Jizan had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. They fielded: Walid - Ibn-Ashraf, Madini, Shareef, Abdel - Nisawi, Haj-Ismail, Abed-Yaseen, Omar - Khoury, El-Amal.

K. Omar sailed high above the opponents as he headed in a corner kick from H. Ibn-Ashraf after 13 minutes of play, making the score 0 - 1. AL.hlaL's H. Haj-Akil put his head to a well placed ball, lifted in from the left, and scored to make the score 1 - 1 with 27 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 39 minutes, AL.hlaL tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. AL.hlaL made it 2 - 1 as A. Juwayri got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to S. Shareef who whipped a low drive in off the far post. AL.hlaL increased the lead as I. Damghani struck to make the score 3 - 1 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of AL.hlaL to 4 - 1 as H. Haj-Akil finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. The visitors' right side was dangerous today; N. Abed-Yaseen made the home team's keeper look foolish as he easily reduced the lead to make it 4 - 2 44 minutes into the match. The teams went for the halftime break at 4 - 2. AL.hlaL had most of the ball, with 66 percent of possession.

AL.hlaL managed to extend their lead to 5 - 2 when A. Haj-Hamdan cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. H. Haj-Akil had a fantastic opportunity to put AL.hlaL up another goal 73 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Jizan's J. Khoury was shown a yellow card after 83 minutes for slicing down an opponent. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in AL.hlaL's T. Ahmed increasing the lead to 6 - 2. At this point, it was obvious that the players of AL.hlaL lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. AL.hlaL claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 66 percent.

Y. Sleiman performed admirably for AL.hlaL. On the other hand, R. Gasser's play was disheartening. Jizan's best player was J. Abdel. I. Haj-Ismail was a disappointment, however. The match ends 6 - 2.