Dhofar continues its winning streak in soccer

Dhofar of Oman dashed hopes of Salmiya of Kuwait after beating them by a solitary goal yesterday in the 18th GCC Clubs League Winners' Championship being played at the Qattara stadium in Al Ain.

Ahmad Khalid scored the all important goal of the match after 33 minutes. His team mate Hani Al Dhabit switched the ball form the right flank behind their rivals defence. The unmarked Ahmad Khalid collected the ball inside the box and launched a close - range powerful shot that beat Salmiya custodian Saleh Mahdi and went straight into the right hand corner of the net.

This was the second win of Dhofar over the Kuwait side Salmiya in the history of the GCC league winners championship. They defeated them before 2-0 in 1995 in Bahrain to finish runners - up then. Before scoring the lone goal of the match, both teams played poorly, demonstrating a monotonous play.

The losers had only two chances before the teams crossed over when Ali Alkabei came close to scoring only six minutes into play but his perfect header hit the woodwork. Veteran Ali Marawy missed another sitter in the 23rd minute as his attempt hit the crossbar. This victory raised the points  tally of Dhofar to seven whereas Salmiya are still with three points.

The winners have a crucial and decisive match against hosts Al Ain on Friday. A win for Al Ain in their clash  will  crown them as champions. Salmiya's Croatian Coach Evan Bloujan fielded dangerous striker Basher Abdullah on resumption to help them score the equaliser, but nothing changed.

Hani Al Dhabit of Dhofar could have made it 2-0 but his weak shot was blocked by the goalkeeper ten minutes from time. Basher squandered the last chance in the match when he shot into the hands of Dhofar goalkeeper only four minutes before the final whistle. In the post-match press conference held after the match Evan Bloujan coach of Salmiya confessed that his team played their worst match in the tournament.

He felt sorry for his team's situation. He said that the team will fight for the second  and third position. His counterpart Antonio Nato Coach of Dhofar looked confident during the conference. He hailed the performance of his team players saying that they were not at all under pressure at the prospect of facing  hosts Al Ain on Friday.

The Brazilian trainer assured that his team will beat Al Ain in their match although Al Ain were playing at home and in front of their supporters. Ittihad of Saudi Arabia humiliated West Rifa'a of Bahrain in the second encounter of the daywith a thumpig 7-0  win, their first in the championship.

It was the biggest score in the competition. With this result the winners have revived an outside chance of winning the event. They have taken their point tally to four. They have two games against Al Ittihad of Qatar and Al Ain. West Rifa'a remain the only squad without a point.

They have scored only one goal and conceded 13. Hassan Alyamy of Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia scored four goals yesterday to share top scorer's list  with Abdullah Al Mazroei of Ittihad of Qatar. His teammate Marzoq Al Otaiby added two and Al Saqry netted one. The Tunisian coach Ali Al Shuhaibi trainer of West Rifa'a of Bahrain siad yesterday that he had submitted his resignation to the team's administration after his team was heavily beaten by Ittihad of Jedda 7-0.

He announced this during the post press conference held at the premises of Qattara club.
He justified his resignation saying that  the players were told not to play to their potential. He added that he was not aware for the reasons behind this.  He stressed that the Bahraini team will not do better in the current circumstances.