FOOTBALL – AL Khaldiya led three teams last night into the quarter-finals of the 2024-25 His Majesty the King’s Cup.
The two-time defending champions of the Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier League posted a stunning 6-1 victory over Etehad Al Reef to go through to the last eight in the kingdom’s richest annual football tournament.
Joining them marching through were Muharraq and Al Hala. Muharraq defeated Budaiya 4-2 in their round-of-16 affair while Hala battled past Al Najma 3-1.
In the quarters, Khaldiya and Hala will face off, while Muharraq go up against Al Shabab. The other two confrontations pit holders Al Ahli against Sitra, and Riffa in an exciting derby with East Riffa.
The schedule in the round of eight has yet to be announced by the Bahrain Football Association.
In Khaldiya’s win last night at the National Stadium in Riffa, four of their players were on target, including Mohammed Al Rumaihi and Ismaeel Abdullatif, who both had braces.
Al Rumaihi opened the scoring after just three minutes. He fired in from inside the six-yard box off an assist by Abdullatif. Just two minutes later, Thiago Augusto Fernandes scored off a rebound after a headed effort by Abdullatif was saved.
Abdullatif then got his name onto the score sheet in the 12th minute after tapping into an empty net off a cross from the right delivered by Ali Abdulla. Al Rumaihi then made it 4-0 at the half-hour mark with a goal from inside the area and Khaldiya were now cruising.
Zaid Ali Kazim got one back for Etehad Al Reef six minutes later, reducing the deficit to three goals at the break. But Khaldiya finished strong, as Abdullatif got his second from close range in the 72nd minute before Mohammed Adel applied the nail in the coffin with an 80th minute header.
Muharraq, meanwhile, needed to overcome a resilient Budaiya, who equalised twice in the contest at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.
Muharraq’s prolific scoring machine Edimar Ribeiro Da Costa Junior twice found the net in the match – one on either side of the break. He first connected on a long cross in the 17th minute to head in from an acute angle, but then Ivorian Amangoua Kesse Jean Othniel levelled the score for Budaiya with a 26th minute effort from the edge of the box.
Argentinian Facundo Agustin Tobares headed in from close range in the 57th minute to give Muharraq back the advantage, only for Brazilian Adriano Soares Filgueira to bring Budaiya back on level terms with a 68th minute spot kick after Ghanaian teammate Daniel Asante was brought down in the area.
Soufiane Saeed Mahrouk put Muharraq back in front in the 79th minute with a header from point-blank range off a cross from Da Costa Junior, who then sealed the victory five minutes from full time. He caught Budaiya goalkeeper Salman Omar Murad sleeping, stole away possession, and guided the ball home.
Finally, in Hala’s win at Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium in Arad, Salman Ali scored in the 13th minute to give the victors the lead. Najma then got their lone consolation with a Yacouba Ichiaka Bourama Diarra header five minutes into the second half.
But Hala replied just three minutes later with a Mamadou Lamine Diawara penalty, and then Hamza Attar made it 3-1 two minutes into second-half stoppage time with a brilliant strike from a metre outside the penalty box.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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