Al Hashash’s double sends Al Zilzal into semi-finals

Manama: Al Zilzal advanced to the semi-finals of Nasser 9 Ramadan Football Tournament following a deserving 3-0 victory over Forever in the quarter-finals.

Attiya Mohammed scored once, while his teammate Abdhullah Al Hashash netted twice in the game, held at Khalifa Sports City Football Stadium. Al Hashash later bagged the best player of the match award.

The first half was tightly contested. Even though Forever was holding a better ball possession, their opposing team relied on the long balls in attacking. 

And their strategy proved fruitful as Attiya Mohammed struck home from a distance in the 15th minute.

Forever used only one attacker in the frontline and this made Al Zilzal’s defence easy to tame him. 

The first half ended with no real scoring opportunities created. Al Zilzal maintained its solid defence led by ex-international Bahraini player Abdullah Al Marzouqi and kept the opposing team at bay. 

Forever thought they levelled the score in the 78th minute when Ahmed Al Muqla fired a powerful shot, but goalkeeper Rashid Al Bukhari made a great response to parry it. Abdullah Al Hashash added two goals in a gap of eight minutes to put Al Zilzal’s lead beyond the reach of Forever.

Al Nawayef shown door

Gunners United showed Al Nawayef the way out of Nasser 9 Ramadan Football Tournament and set up a semi-final meeting with Al Zilzal.

The match was held on Thursday at the same stadium. 

Mohammed Al Shamsi of Gunners United, who later won the best player of the match award, broke the deadlock after only six minutes into the first half. 

Six minutes after the hour mark, he scored again and doubled his team’s lead before his Brazilian teammate Diego netted the third goal for Gunners United.

Semi-finals today

The semi-final matches will take place today with Victorious and Al Fakhar squaring off at 9:00pm, followed by the match between Al Zilzal and Gunners United. 

Expectations are high as the four teams showcased great performances in their quarter final games. Any game ending on a level-score will be decided with the penalty-shootout.