Talal 4 - 3 Allstars (392861173)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Talal Arena saw a crowd turnout of 6727. Philibert Jules was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Guntram Hermann Fesl and Estêvão Delgado. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Talal. They fielded: Nasser - Katib, Harawi, El-Omar, El-Sharif - El-Amin, Kudri, Abbas, Asqalani - Mansour, El-Ashraf.

Allstars decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Abdel Hamid - Tamstani, Abed-Sulayman, Al-Adnan - Abulafia, Issa, Kosterink, Salman, Ibn-Faysal - Di Pinto, Sion.

Talal took the lead after 8 minutes as a result of Q. El-Sharif's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. Good work by the Talal defensive line after 28 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found M. El-Ashraf alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. Talal's Q. Kudri had an excellent opportunity after 34 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! After 36 minutes, Talal sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached H. El-Omar, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 2 - 0. 2 - 0 was the score after the first half. Allstars had most of the ball, with 52 percent of possession.

Things were deteriorating for the away team as Talal scored another to make it 3 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for H. El-Amin after 55 minutes. After 68 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by Q. El-Sharif might have resulted in another goal for Talal. However, A. Abdel Hamid made a spectacular save. Allstars managed to reduce the score to 3 - 1 as F. Di Pinto finished off a well-played combination from the left, easily carving through the defence. The visitors got one back when M. Issa finished off a pass from the left and scored after 84 minutes. 3 - 2 was the score. Talal's Q. Kudri increased the lead to 4 - 2, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 85 minutes. With 86 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, Allstars showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 4 - 3 when M. Abed-Sulayman got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal. Allstars enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.

Talal's top performer was clearly F. Mansour. Q. Nasser turned in a dismal performance, however. F. Di Pinto performed admirably for Allstars. On the other hand, A. Abdel Hamid's play was disheartening. The match ends 4 - 3.