Khaldiya, Najma through to King’s Cup semis

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Al Khaldiya and Al Najma made it through to the semi-finals of the 2021/2022 His Majesty the King’s Cup football tournament last night, following contrasting victories at the National Stadium in Riffa.

Khaldiya posted a resounding 3-0 win over Hidd in their round of eight clashes, while Najma edged past last season’s losing cup finalists Al Ahli 8-7 in a nail-biting penalty shootout after regular time finished deadlocked at 1-1.

Khaldiya and Najma now face off in one game of the final four, which has yet to be scheduled.

They join cup holders Riffa and neighbours East Riffa in the semis.

Riffa and East Riffa had on Tuesday night booked their berths in the next stage following their wins on penalties.

In Khaldiya’s win last night, goals from Bahrain internationals Mohammed Hardan, Mahdi Humaidan and Ismaeel Abdullatif sent them through to the next round.

Hardan opened their account in the 32nd minute after his shot from the edge of the box was deflected into the net by Hidd’s Talal Juma Saad.

Khaldiya then doubled their lead in the 57th after a brilliant one-two between Humaidan and substitute Ahmed Al Qaseer.

Humaidan had a one-on-one with Hidd goalkeeper Abbas Ahmed, and he did enough to send the ball into the net.

Then, in the 85th minute, Abdullatif applied the nail in the coffin after a brilliant through ball from Humaidan left him with a clear path at goal, and he made no mistake in slotting the ball home.

Al Qaseer had a chance to make it 4-0 in the third minute of stoppage time, but his penalty was saved by a diving Abbas.

Meanwhile, Najma and Ahli needed 22 attempts—11 apiece— in the shootout to decide the victor.

The result came down to the last two kicks, which were taken by Najma goalkeeper Abdulla Alkaabi and Ahli counterpart Abdulla Hasan Aldawadi.

Alkaabi converted his shot and then saved Aldawadi’s penalty, which was poorly hit.

It was a disappointing ending for Aldawadi, who was able to make three saves and keep his team in the fight during the shootout.

Earlier in the contest, Najma and Ahli scored on either side of half-time.

Najma were first on the scoresheet after Salem Adel headed home off a long pass from near midfield in the 41st minute of play.

That was enough to give his team the advantage heading into the break.