FOOTBALL – A fantastic second-half goal by Brazilian forward Joel Vinicius led Riffa to a hard-earned 1-0 win over Busaiteen at the Muharraq Stadium in a 10th-round Nasser bin Hamad Premier League fixture last night and propelled the 14-time champions to the top of the 12-team table.
Riffa, who had 16 points coming into this game, now have 19 and have jumped ahead of defending champions Khaldiya, who have 17, and Al Ahli, who salvaged a 1-1 draw against a disciplined Al Shabab side at the Bahrain National Stadium last night, who now have 18.
With Busaiteen, who are currently last in the standings with seven points, putting up stiff resistance through the first half and continuing to battle determinedly in the second, Riffa clearly looked anxious as the clock ticked past the 60-minute mark.
But Vinicius had some magic to display and that moment arrived in the 65th minute when the tall player leapt high in the Busaiteen box to reach the ball curling toward him from the right and headed it past goalkeeper Sayed Mohsin Yousuf into the back of the net.
Meanwhile, in the other match last night, Al Ahli – who were joint-leaders with Khaldiya before the game – looked to be heading to their first defeat since a 7-1 drubbing by the defending champions on October 8 which would end a six-game unbeaten run that included four consecutive wins coming into this encounter, as Al Shabab took a 1-0 lead in the 65th minute.
The goal was the result of a brilliant team effort as Al Shabab’s Adewale James Oufade, the excellent left-back from Togo, received a pass just outside the left of the Al Ahli box, tapped it to teammate, Brazilian forward Jaco who curled the ball toward the right of the goal where compatriot, mid-fielder Romeu ran in and headed the ball past goalkeeper Ebrahim Lutfallah into the back of the net.
Suddenly, Al Shabab, who had demonstrated great play-making throughout the game, were favourites to win and the players had a spring in their strides as they sought to impose more pressure on Al Ahli.
And it showed as Al Ahli, in their desperate attempt for an equaliser, fumbled several opportunities to score with forward Hassan Madan sending the ball over the crossbar from close range just two minutes later before two successive corners saw Al Shabab goalkeeper Hamad Al Doseri punch the ball to safety.
Meanwhile, in the 75th minute, Al Shabab also missed a chance to go 2-0 up when midfielder Faisal Bodahoom saw the ball just clear the bar from his free kick from just outside the Al Ahli box.
But, 12 minutes later, Al Ahli’s Sayed Mahdi Sharaf made no such mistake as he took a free kick from distance and sent the ball screaming over Al Doseri’s head into the goal.
Now, Al Shabab were under pressure and Al Ahli tried to capitalise and narrowly missed going ahead 2-1 just two minutes later when Spanish centre-back Jonas Ramalho’s header just cleared the bar.
Six minutes of injury time were added after the regulation 90 minutes were up and Al Ahli missed another opportunity to take the lead in the 91st minute when Madan sent the ball just wide of the right goal-post.
And mere seconds before the final whistle, Brazilian right-winger Wellington Moreira summed up Al Ahli’s night when he kicked the ball just over the bar.
The draw means that Al Ahli’s unbeaten run has now extended to seven matches while the one point Al Shabab have gained moves them up to nine points, pushing them to 10th in the standings, ahead of Hidd (eight points) and Busaiteen.
&uuid=(email))