Saudi football season has come to a conclusion last Friday when al-Hilal and al-Ittihad clashed at King Fahad International Stadium in Riyadh. Playing to a packed stadium awash with colors, both teams have put together a decent performance, but it was Ittihad who excelled to calim the prestigious title.
Prior to the match, a friend of mine called me and said “Hilal’s chances to win are 30% only.” I thought he was being pessimistic, and told him “it is a 50/50 match.” I said our team have a bigger motivation, and he said motivation is not enough to win this final.
Although Hilal had two corners in the first five minutes, Ittihad started in a better shape. They were far more organized and dominated the midfield, and the fact that Hilal were using three holding midfielders did not change much. Sagri enjoyed several runs into Angri, he even had the chance to move deep and actually got an opportunity to score. On the other side, Khathran had a better chance to open the score when he received Yassir’s ball inside the box, but mishandled it.
Twenty minutes into the match, Omar moves with the ball past the middle line, passes to Tariq who elegantly gives it back to Omar with one touch. Omar takes a few steps forward and strikes a fierce right-footed into the net. Taiseer had absolutely no chance. I thought the goal would have a positive effect on Hilali performance, but I was mistakes. Itti continues to have the upper hand for the remaining 25 minutes of the first-half.
Dimitri makes his only substitution during the break: Hamza replaces Sultan al-Nemri. It was too big of a match for the youngster. This was expected on behalf of Dimitri, but what has stricken me is how Paqueta reacted to the weak performance of the blues in the first forty-five minutes. He has done nothing.
Ittihad started the second-half in a similar fashion to the first, dominating and playing their game, while Hilal looked is if they were waiting for something to happen. They allowed their opponents move way too freely. Nevertheless, Paqueta was mistakenly sure about his team that he pulled his two forwards Rodrigao and Yassir and brought in Fahad Mubarak and Anbar. Not much happened until the 75th minute, when Sagri swerved a very long ball from the left flank, only to find anticipating right-back Osama al-Muwallad whose volley shot found its way under the feet of veteran Duaie.
Now let me take a moment here and ask a question: Ittihad socred three goals against Hilal this season, what do they have in common? Your probably don’t remember, so let me remind you: a long ball that goes over the head of our left-back Khathran, who has fallen short every time, literally. I’m not sure if the coach have dedicated any time to watch the previous two matches, but if he did he should have noticed such thing.
After the equalizer, I realized the match was over for Hilal, but I thought it might take an extra time for Ittihad to get it over with. Pulling out his two forward way too early has left Paqueta with his hands tied. Montasher, AFC’s 2005 Player of the Year, decides to put an end to Hilal misery earlier that I expected. At the dying moments of the match he goes up quickly on the break, and jumps higher than everyone to send Kita’s cross to the right corner. It was the winning goal: Ittihad are the champions.
They were playing their third final this season, and they definitely deserved to win. As for Hilal, it is only fair to say they were not good enough.
Finally, a few words to the supporters and management. To the supporters: it is not the end of the world, and by many measures, the season was not a disaster. We reached the CPC semifinal, we reached the knock-out stage of the ACL for the first time in our history, and we were on top of the table for most weeks. Keep in mind this happened while we changed coaches two times.
As for the management: I wish Prince Mohammed bin Faisal (PMBF) would stay. He works with a real passion and that’s what we need for the coming seasons. I also wish Paqueta and foreign players would stay as well. This was the first time he lost a final with the team, so give the man some slack. As for Tavares, I think the management would be making a huge mistake if they did not deliver his demands. He has become an integral part of the squad, and it doesn’t matter how much more money he asks for. The management should really consider singing a long-term deal with him to secure his stay with the amount of money they want. Renewing the contract year-by-year puts the player in a much stronger position during negotiations.
Tariq has clearly become indispensable to the team, so keeping him is a must. Rodrigao has spent only a short time, and I believe he would only get better if he spends more time with the team. Of course, the management can always promise to bring a better player, but in reality this is not always the case.
Anyway, it was a dramatic season, and I can’t see why next season won’t be any less interesting. What do you think about all of this? Have your say.
No comments:
Post a Comment