Salmiya scores solitary goal soccer victory

Favourite Salmiya of Kuwait has collected three points to open their account in the GCC clubs league winners championship beating Ittihad of Saudi Arabia with a solitary goal in their match played at Qattarah stadium yesterday.

Jasim Al Huwaidi, the world's top soccer scorer in 1998, netted the all important goal of the game 28 minutes into play. Al Huwaidi received a perfect pass sent by the teams star Bashar Abdullah from the right flank to slam it home without any hesitation.

Bashar himself was to add the second goal three minutes later when he was sent clear by a colleague, but Saudi custodian Hussain Al Sadiq made a severe mistake when he fouled the Kuwaiti striker outside the box.

Al Sadiq was given marching orders and his team played the rest of the game with ten players. Ali Marawy, the former Kuwait national team player, came close to scoring when he sent a left footer but his shot rebounded off the crossbar and was cleared by a defender ten minutes before the breather.

Hamza Idris was to bring the game back to parity when he was sent clear towards the target, but for the surprise of he shot the ball into the goalkeeper's body squandering a valuable chance for his team in the 43rd minute. Also the winner scorer, Al Huwaid squandered a similar sitter one minute later.

The winners played defensively on resumption and depended mainly on the counter attacks. But this paved the way for the Saudis to put more pressure on the Kuwait goal. Hamz Idris, second 2000 world top scorer, spearheaded the attack but they could not find the target.

The Saudi player is due to leave for Germany after playing the second match in the tourney to receive his prize during the ceremony to be organised by FIFA there. Al Ittihad made several attempts in the last minutes to level the game through Hamza and Hassan Alyafy but all their efforts were in vain.

After the game Ahmed Al Masoud, chairman of the Saudi delegation to the championship told Gulf News that they have submitted a protest against three Kuwaiti players who are taking part in the event without showing their passports.

Dhofar of Oman win

In the second match of the day Dhofar from Oman edged Ittihad of Qatar with a 2-1 win. The winners sent a warning to the participating teams after their brilliant display of their first game yesterday at Qattara stadium.

Salim Al Kathery put Dhofar on lead 15 minutes to time and Hani converted the penalty kicks in the last minute when the Qatari goalie fouled him in the last minute.