Al Ittihad Emerge Winners in Five-Goal Thriller Away to Al Hazem
Two own-goals were the deciding factor in favor of Al Ittihad, who came out 2-3 winners at the King Abdulla Sport City Stadium on Saturday. They returned to winning ways in the Saudi Pro League after two winless matches.
The match was a calm affair in the first half after Al Ittihad took the lead in the 21st minute through a Saleh Al-Amri strike. Al Amri, who started wide left in Al Ittihad’s 4-4-2 formation, firmly met a cross from the left to give the visitors the lead.
After the goal, the match settled to a standard tempo, with other notable actions in the rest of the half being a yellow card to Al Ittihad’s Farha Al Shamrani in the 34th minute and a caution to Al Hazem’s Paulo Ricardo in the 39th minute.
The second half began with Al Hazem substituting, with Vina being replaced by Yousef Al Shammari. In the 57th minute, Paulo Ricardo put through his own net to give Al Ittihad a two-goal cushion.
Al Hazem responded brilliantly to going two goals behind. First, Mohammed Al Thani headed home in the 60th minute before Toze equalized in the 63rd minute. At this point, the momentum was with the home side.
Al Ittihad responded to the double whammy by making two substitutions: replacing Saad Al Mousa and Romarinho with Jota and Muhannad Al Shanqeeti in the 69th and 70th minutes.
Al Ittihad pushed for the winner in the latter stages of the match. Al Hazem defended doggedly, holding on for the point against their illustrious opponents. However, Aymen Dahmen struck the second own-goal for Al Hazem in the 7th minute of added time to give Al Ittihad the lead.
Al Ittihad will not be pleased with the performance, but they will be happy with the three points and returning to winning ways. They stay fourth on the table with 50 points, two behind Al-Ahli Saudi in third and two ahead of Al-Taawoun in fifth.
As the run-in heats up, Al Ittihad will focus on claiming back-to-back league wins, while Al Hazem will continue searching for the elusive third win of the season.
Up next in the Saudi Pro League, Al Ittihad will host Al-Shabab on Friday, with Al Hazem traveling to Al-Wehda on Thursday.
