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Al-Hilal defeated Al-Ittihad 1-0 on Sunday to move into the King’s Cup final courtesy of a late own goal from Ahmed Hegazi. The Riyadh giants may be out of the running for the Roshn Saudi League — they sit in fourth with Al-Ittihad currently top of the standings and on course for a first league title since 2009 — but they are now just 90 minutes away from another major piece of silverware.
As painful as the defeat was for Al-Ittihad, who had the better of the play and the chances on a warm evening in Jeddah, it also means that they can fully focus on the championship even if it will take time for the Tigers to appreciate the result and the outcome. Despite their superiority, Ittihad failed to make it count and were caught by the late sucker punch in extra time.
Al-Ittihad and their coach Nuno Santo may eventually be relieved that they do not have to challenge on two fronts but they will look back on this game, shake their heads and wonder how they are not in the final. On the stroke of halftime for example, the lively Helder Costa waltzed through the Hilal defense but his square ball was blasted over by Romarinho who was in a great position.
Soon after, Al-Hilal striker Odion Ighalo shot from the edge of the area to force a fine one-handed save from Marcelo Grohe but the best chances came from the home team. Abderrazak Hamdallah was lively from the start and fired wide from inside the area and then Romarinho missed a better chance just before the break as the Brazilian shot over from a good position.
Ten minutes into the second half, Hamdallah volleyed over from outside the area and soon after shot straight into the arms of Abdullah Al-Mayouf when in a good position.
With both goalkeepers in fine form, it was not a surprise when the game went into extra time and there too, Al-Ittihad had the better chances but just could not find a way through.
The game was headed for a penalty shootout when the deadlock was broken with just 14 minutes remaining. Al-Hilal’s Malian maestro Moussa Marega swung over a low cross from the right and it was met by a sliding Hegazi. Unfortunately for the Egyptian defender and the home fans, he could only divert the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net. It left Ittihad little time to get back into the game and, in the end, Hilal saw out the game and moved into the final.
There they will face the winner of Monday’s last four clash between Al-Nassr and Al-Wehda but first there is the small matter of Saturday’s first leg of the Asian Champions League final against Urawa Reds of Japan when a record fifth continental title is within reach. Ittihad are on course for the title but there is still much for Al-Hilal to play for.
As things stand in the league, Al-Ittihad are in a great position. The Jeddah giants, who have conceded just seven goals from the first 23 games of the season, are three points clear at the top of the standings. Al-Ittihad also have a match in hand over second-placed Al-Nassr. There is still much to play for and the Tigers will not worry too much about the King’s Cup if they take the league title while Al-Hilal will welcome the chance to add more silverware despite falling out of the title race.
RIYADH: The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. has signed a deal to sponsor Al-Ittihad football club for the next three years.
The pact includes commercial and marketing rights that would benefit both sides, according to statements from the parties. The SRC is wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Majeed Fahad Alabduljabbar, deputy CEO of the SRC, said: “The sponsorship is part of SRC’s support for the development of the Kingdom’s thriving sports sector and the key objectives of Vision 2030’s Quality of Life Program to promote sporting activity.
“Sports and entertainment have become increasingly prominent to the Saudi economy and play a crucial role in the country’s future development, making it an attractive destination across various industries. We take great pride in being part of the Kingdom’s sports sector development.”
Abdulwahab Abed, CEO of Al-Ittihad, said: “This partnership with SRC would foster the club’s expansion and provide support for its domestic and international endeavors moving forward.”
The SRC was established in 2017 and obtained a license from the Saudi central bank to operate in real estate refinancing through the secondary market.
CLAIREFONTAINE, France: Wendie Renard grew up in a place so remote that locals nicknamed it “The End of the World.”
By the end of the Women’s World Cup, the France captain hopes she’ll be raising aloft the major international trophy that has eluded the women’s national team.
The imposing central defender’s journey starts with a 17,000-kilometer (10,540-mile) trek to Australia, where France open their campaign in Sydney on July 23 against Jamaica.
France’s men have won two World Cups and two European Championships — and reached three other major finals — but Les Bleues are underachievers. The women’s team lost their only World Cup semifinal 12 years ago to the US.
“We have a lot of quality, but our honors list is blank,” Renard told The Associated Press in an interview at the team’s Clairefontaine training camp outside Paris. “There’s a long, long way to go. But the tougher it is, the better it is at the end.”
Despite boasting a team packed with players from ultra-successful French club side Lyon — the starting lineup for France’s opener at the 2019 World Cup had seven Lyon players — France have also only reached one European Championship semifinal, losing last year to Germany.
“Quite a lot of us have experience at the highest level and we need to use it,” Renard said. “The hardest thing is saying, ‘I should have done this, I have should have done that.’ By then it’s already too late.”
The tournament, cohosted by New Zealand, kicks off on July 20, which is also when Renard turns 33.
She has played 144 internationals and scored 34 goals for France. With Lyon, Renard has won a record 16 league titles and a record eight Champions League trophies.
She’s long been considered one of the best players in women’s soccer, yet there’s a giant gap in Renard’s international resume.
Renard has a chance to put that right, which back in February didn’t look like being the case.
Renard said she wouldn’t play at the World Cup after saying she no longer felt able to play for France. That decision came after years of tensions between then-coach Corinne Diacre and senior players, including Renard.
Striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto and forward Kadidiatou Diani also put their international careers on hold until significant changes were made.
Two weeks later Diacre was fired and Herve Renard was hired. He won the African Cup of Nations as coach of Zambia and Ivory Coast, and guided Saudi Arabia to an upset win over Argentina at the men’s World Cup last year.
He immediately eased tensions.
Renard overturned her decision and 33-year-old midfielder Amandine Henry — who had not played for France for three years under Diacre — was recalled.
“He has an open-mindedness and he doesn’t judge you. There’s a level of trust. He says things up front, which is very important. It’s honest and to your face,” Renard said about her new coach. “He said from the first day that his door is always open, that he wants our feedback: what we thought about the training session, if there’s anything we could have done more of. He says that we have a project in common.”
Renard, therefore, is among the designated leaders that other players can always approach. The others are striker Eugenie Le Sommer, Henry, Diani and midfielder Grace Geyoro.
When she put her international career on hold, Renard mentioned the need to protect her mental health, which is a priority subject under the new regime.
“The coach spoke about it with us. You have to help each teammate, you can’t leave anyone on the side,” Renard said. “If she’s coming into the dressing room in the morning, I know if she’s feeling well or not, if anything’s weighing on her mind.”
Renard hopes a strong World Cup performance will boost the women’s league back home. Interest waned after France hosted the 2019 edition.
“There was great exposure, there was a huge media impact. But we didn’t manage to surf that wave and we stagnated, or even regressed, whereas other nations made the most of it and structured their leagues,” she said. “We hope we can get the momentum back, all that we lost.”
She points out how the women’s game in England is reaping the results of a continual investment. In May, a record crowd of 77,390 watched Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley.
“They created a momentum there in a progressive way, with decisions that were already taken years ago. For the league, for TV rights, lots of things were done,” Renard said. “When we see how full the stadiums are at Wembley, we say to ourselves ‘Why not us?’ Because when our games are on TV, we generally have good ratings, but when it’s (at the stadium) we need to attract more people.”
Renard has played her entire club career in France, yet has been brushing up on her English for the World Cup.
“I’m shy and I’ve never dared speak it in front of the cameras. I’m good in front of my teacher, but she often tells me off and says to me, ‘You’re ready, you can speak English,’” Renard explained. “I feel like I don’t have enough command yet to express myself properly. But if the opportunity comes I’ll make the effort.”
Effort is something Renard learned early, growing up in Le Precheur (The Preacher) on the northern coast of Martinique, some 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) from France.
Le Precheur was so far away from anywhere else in Martinique that it became known as The End of the World.
It’s where she honed her skills for hours every day as a young girl; beginning a journey that took her to France as a determined teenager.
It could culminate with a victory lap in Sydney on Aug. 20.
A few months ago, the prospect of Roberto Firmino swapping the famous red shirt of Liverpool for the green of Al-Ahli would have been laughed off. After all, the Brazilian was, and is, a legend at Anfield.
His eight years at the six-time European champions saw 362 games, 111 goals and seven trophies, including the English Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
At the same time, Al-Ahli were in the second tier after a shock relegation.
Fortunately, the Jeddah giants bounced straight back and are now preparing for a hugely exciting return to the big time.
The club, still without a coach after the departure of Pitso Mosimane, now have Edouard Mendy in goal after the Senegalese shot-stopper arrived from Chelsea in the last week of June. And now they have the Brazilian, long affectionately known as “Bobby” by Liverpool fans. It is another major coup for the league and especially for Al-Ahli who really are now back in the big time.
Firmino, who has signed a three-year deal, is a skillful, wily player who creates goals and scores them. A hard worker who can play in a variety of positions in attack, he is a dream for any coach and for his teammates and surely he will be missed next season by a certain Mohamed Salah in England, though the Egyptian has also been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia. Liverpool fans will now be able to see Firmino in action as well as other Anfield legends Steven Gerrard and Robbie Fowler coaching in the country.
It is another example of top-class talent coming to Saudi Arabia from the English Premier League, regarded by most as the best in the world. Just a few weeks ago, he was scoring goals in front of the Kop and now he is preparing to take Al-Ahli back into the upper reaches of the top tier.
Following the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante, Firmino is the first big-name South American to arrive in Saudi Arabia this summer. Fans back in Brazil will be keeping an eye or two on how he performs for his new club. There are not many high-profile Brazilians in the country at the moment.
Those watching back home should remember that this is not going to be an easy gig for Firmino.
For one, Al-Ahli are readjusting back to life in the big time. This is a big club and the players, much to the chagrin of Mosimane, did not celebrate upon winning promotion as they felt that such an achievement for a team that won the third of its Saudi Arabian championships as recently as 2016 was beneath them. Whether it was the right thing to do is a debate for a different time (Mosimane thought it wasn’t), but the club has been struggling for a while and while relegation was a surprise, it wasn’t a massive shock.
Now expectations are growing that they will return to what they see as their rightful place in the top three or four next season. That is not a given even with Mendy and Firmino. There are now 18 teams in the league and even those who are expected to be battling against relegation have firepower with forwards who can score given just half a chance.
Firmino will see with his own eyes. Even the likes of Ronaldo don’t get it all their own way, but if the former Liverpool man can help Al-Ahli get off to a good start next season and can develop an understanding with his fellow forwards, then this newly promoted team, not content with mere survival, will be one for the rest to fear.
Firmino’s arrival shows that Al-Ahli are back in the big time.
SAO PAULO: Brazil have appointed a new national team coach. Sort of.
Fernando Diniz has been hired as head coach of Brazil’s national team on a 12-month contract that will be due to expire when Carlo Ancelotti’s deal with Real Madrid ends.
Executives at the Brazilian soccer confederation have indicated the intention is to wait a season and then bring in Ancelotti, the 64-year-old Italian coach, to lead the team into the 2026 World Cup.
The 49-year-old Fluminense coach Diniz will keep his job at the Rio de Janeiro club and join Brazil only for South American World Cup qualifiers. He takes over from Brazil U-20 team coach Ramon Menezes, who led the team into this year’s friendlies on an interim basis, losing two out of three matches.
Brazil are yet to appoint a long-term coach to replace Tite, who left the job after a quarterfinal loss to Croatia in the 2022 World Cup at Qatar.
Diniz, who in recent years has been praised by Brazil stars including Neymar and Thiago Silva, will be introduced in a news conference Wednesday at the Brazilian soccer confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
“This is a dream for anyone, an honor and a huge pride to work for the national team,” Diniz said in a video release, wearing a Brazil jacket. “It is a joint operation of the Brazilian soccer confederation and Fluminense. I have the conviction that we have everything to take this one and make it work.”
The Brazilian soccer confederation said in a statement that the negotiations to hire Diniz were “silent and careful” so it did not interfere with his work at Fluminense. He’s renowned for a strategy that utilizes attacking teams that enjoy ball possession and building its game from the back.
Ednaldo Rodrigues, the chairman of the Brazilian soccer confederation, told TV Globo that Diniz, a favorite among players, will step in until Ancelotti joins. The Real Madrid coach has not confirmed any deal with Brazil so far.
Diniz’ “game plan is almost similar to that of the coach that will take over at Copa America, Ancelotti,” Rodrigues said. “We don’t call him an interim coach of the national team. He will come and make the transition in Brazil for Ancelotti.”
Copa America will be played in the US from June 11 to July 19 next year. Until then, Diniz will coach Brazil for key World Cup qualifiers, including a home match against defending champions Argentina in November.
Brazil’s first match in World Cup qualifiers will be on Sept. 7 against Bolivia in home soil.
JEDDAH: Sudan’s Al-Hilal defeated Tunisia’s Sfaxien 1-0 on Tuesday in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the King Salman Cup 2023 qualifiers.
Al-Hilal’s goal was scored by Mohamed Abdel-Rahman in the first half from a penalty kick. The game was played at Hammadi Agrebi Olympic Stadium in Tunis’ suburb of Rades.
The two teams will meet again on July 7, hosted by Sfaxien, to determine qualification for the group stage, which will be held from July 27 to Aug. 12 in Saudi Arabia.
The winner of the Al-Hilal and Sfaxien game will join the first group, which includes Saud Arabia’s Al-Ittihad, Iraqi Police and Tunisia’s ES Altaraje.