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Al Hilal overcome Al Shabab 2-1 to take second position

 

Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia raised their tally to six points taking second position in Group "C" following their 2-1 victory over their UAE counterparts Al Shabab in the 2012 AFC Champions League 4thround match played this evening at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.

Al Shabab are staying at the bottom of the table with only two points while Al Gharafa of Qatar are classified in third position with three points after they held the leaders Piroozi of Iran to a 1-1 draw who are on top of the table with 8 points.

Both Al Hilal and Al Shabab demonstrated a balanced performance in the opening minutes with the Saudi team taking superiority over their rivals, making dangerous attacks but failed to score. Al Hilal's striker Yousuf Al Arabi missed a nice sitter in the 19th minute when his strong header past just close to the upright and Al Shabab's goalkeeper Salim Abdullah deprived the hosts' striker Nawaf Al Abid from scoring their first goal one minute later. The hosts continued their domination of the match putting more pressure on their opponent's defence but without scoring. But Al Shabab were the first to take the lead when their Brazilian striker Ciel received the ball and ran down the right flank, penetrated into the box before sending a brilliant cross for his countryman Kieza who drove the ball into the net in the 29thminute. Mohammed Ahmed was almost to add the second goal but he failed to control the ball five minutes later.

The Saudi squad pressed hard in the last minutes of the first session and their efforts were rewarded when Yousuf Al Arabi capitalized on a defensive blunder to level the score only seconds before the break to end the first half with a 1-1 draw.

The Moroccan player Yousuf Al Arabi sent a left footer five minutes into the second half but Al Shabab's goalie deflected the ball to a corner. The hosts' coach Evan Hasek made his first substitution bringing in the Korean player Yoo Byung Soo in the 54th minute to replace Hassan Khairy. The duo Brazilians Ciel and Kieza of Al Shabab tried to repeat the same Scenario of their first joint goal when the former crossed the ball from the right flank but his countryman's header missed the target in the 56th minute.

The two teams went on their attempts trying to add more goals, but it was the host team who succeeded in taking the lead when their dynamic and dangerous Moroccan professional player Yousuf Al Arabi received a pass that put him free with only the goalkeeper to beat. He faced Al Shabab's custodian and sent the ball into the right hand side making it 2-1 in the 68th minute. The visiting team started searching for the equalizer exerting good efforts but could not make it.

Al Hilal played the last minute and the injury time with ten players after Sultan Beshi was given marching orders for the second yellow card. Sami Anbar squandered a great chance for Al Shabab in the last minute when his colleague Ciel sent a strong shot that rebounded off Hassan Al Otaib's hands for Sami Anbar failed to score ending the game with a 2-1 win for Al Hilal.