The Hindu : Sport : Saudi Arabia thrashes Bahrain, tops group

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Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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Sport

Sport

Saudi Arabia thrashes Bahrain, tops group

Uzbekistan stuns China, enters quarterfinals

— Photo: AFP

FIRST STRIKE: Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al Mousa scoring his side’s first goal past Bahrain goalkeeper Abdul Rahman.

PALEMBANG (Indonesia): Three-time champion Saudi Arabia routed Bahrain 4-0 on Wednesday to finish atop Group D and remain in Jakarta for an Asian Cup quarterfinal during the weekend.

Saudi Arabia scored twice in each half against Gulf rival Bahrain, which needed at least a draw in the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium to qualify.

Saudi Arabia took the lead in the 17th minute after Yasser Al Qahtani threaded a ball into the Bahrain penalty area and sent it to Ahmed Al Mousa, who rounded the ’keeper and sidefooted into the goal.

Bahrain’s best chance came 11 minutes later, but striker Ismaeel Abudullateif shot over the bar from close range.

Abdularahman Al Qahtani made it 2-0 just on half-time, sliding in at the far post to meet an accurate cross by Malek Maaz, who seconds earlier had missed a chance himself.

Bahrain almost pulled one back seven minutes after half-time when Salman Isa Ghuloom fired a powerful shot from the left that the ’keeper parried on to the crossbar.

Saudi Arabia scored again in the 72th minute in spectacular fashion, when Taisir Al Jassam struck a powerful shot from outside the penalty box that flew past a diving Abdulkarim into the top left corner of the net.

Al Jassam added another 10 minutes from regulation time.

Narrow win

At Jakarta, South Korea squeezed into the quarterfinals with a narrow 1-0 victory over co-host Indonesia. Korea took the second spot in group D behind Saudi Arabia.

At Kuala Lumpur, Uzbekistan shocked China 3-0 to hand the regional giant its first Asian Cup group stage exit in 27 years.

Captain Maksim Shatskikh blasted in a rebound from his own header in the 72nd minute before Timur Kapadze capitalised on an error from stand-in ’keeper Yang Jun.

Substitute striker Alexander Geynrikh scored off another rebound in injury time to keep China out of the knock-out stages for the first time since 1980.

The result put Uzbekistan in the second spot in Group C behind Iran and it will face Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinals.

China was a runner-up in 2004 when it lost a controversial final to Japan. But, it has slipped to 76th in the rankings.

Uzbekistan was a quarterfinalist at the last tournament, when it was ousted on penalties by Bahrain. The former Soviet Republic’s finest moment was winning the Asian Games title on debut in 1994.

Iran blanks Malaysia

In the other match, three-time champion Iran coasted to a 2-0 win over whipping boys Malaysia to finish on top of Group C. The Iranians controlled the match at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium but didn’t get the goals their domination merited.

The results: