Itti through to the FINAL
Al Ittihad last night booked their place in the Final of The Custodian of the 2 Holy Mosques Cup..
Al Ittihad was able to over turn the result from being 1-0 down to a 2-1 win in the last 15 minutes.
The game was a good one which saw Al Ittihad have most of the possession with Al Nasr creating very dangerous chances. Al Ittihad were forced to make an early substitution when Viera had to go out injured and Sergio came in.. Thus, Al Ittihad moved from a flat 4-4-2 to a rather offensive 4-3-3.. Nearly immediately.. Sergio missed a golden oppurtunity to score when Hamza Idrees' cross went past Al Yami and Sergio had an open goal to score in but for Al Khojali's impressive save.
The first half ended 0-0
The second half saw a very well taken goal from Al Nasr's left back (Al Jahawi).. a long ball eluded the Itti defence and Al Jahawi smacked it into the far top corner..
From then on it turned into an Itti onslaught with attack after attack going wide.. Oscar seemed to throw in all his cards when he brought in Mohammed Ameen Haydar and Manaf Abu Shgair to improve his chances of equalizing. And that chance came when Mohammed Noor went for a ball with Al Khojali.. and was wrestled to the ground.. not once.. but twice!! a penalty was awarded which Landomar scored.. Al Yami then turned the tide with a beauty.. he took a pass and went past a defender and cleverly slotted it in the near corner..
IMO, the worst thing about the whole game was the ref.. he was appalling!! (i think his name was al marwani).. anyway.. he gave a few very very bad calls.. He Yellow carded Sergio for wasting too much time on a free kick while he was still organising the Nasr wall !! that was followed by a red card a minute later which I guess was cuz Sergio said something.. He also gave Al Muwallad a yellow card for a foul which was an obvious dive from the attacker.. these players will now miss the Crown Prince Cup Final against Al Ahli next week!! whether Sergio will be further suspended remains to be seen.. but knowing the Hilali influence in the Saudi FA.. expect a suspension till after the Final with Al Hilal!!
I found it surprising that Al Nasr's owner, Prince Abdul Rahman Bin Saud called for a penalty for Al Nasr and of course said Al Itti's penalty wasn't a penalty at all.. but then I remembered this guy cannot accept defeat at all!!..
Anyway.. I think Al Ittihad deserved the win.. and deserve their place in the final.. Wish them the best of luck against Al Hilal..
