Muharraq, Najma through to King’s Cup quarters

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Muharraq and Al Najma last night marched through to the quarter-finals of this year’s His Majesty the King’s Cup football tournament.

Muharraq booked their tickets following a 2-0 win over Busaiteen, while Najma ousted Budaiya 3-1 in a penalty shootout after regular time ended goalless.

Muharraq and Najma are the third and fourth teams to make it to the round of eight. With the results, Muharraq set up a mammoth clash with league champions Riffa in their quarter-final meeting.

Riffa had earlier advanced with a win against Al Ettifaq. Najma, meanwhile, will play Al Ahli in the ensuing phase.

Ahli ousted Al Shabab in their round of 16 clash. In their win last night, Muharraq opened the scoring in the 43rd minute when Italia Mario Fontanella tapped the ball into an empty net.

He was on the receiving end of a fine cross supplied by Brazilian teammate Fabio Gama Dos Santos from the right of the penalty box.

Fontanella’s opener was enough to give his team the advantage heading into the break. Muharraq then doubled their advantage in the 76th minute with a rocket free-kick from distance by Hisham Aluqbi.

He hit a low effort, which bounced off the pitch close to goal and above the opposing keeper.

That sealed the win and their place in the next stage. In Najma’s triumph, neither side could find the target over 90 minutes, which sent the match directly into penalties.

Najma’s Mohammed Jameel kicked things off for his team with a goal, and then Murilo De Souza Felisberto’s effort was saved by Najma goalkeeper Ahmed Abdulrasool.

That set the tone for the shootout, as both Najma and Budaiya missed their following spot kicks.

Walter Marques Guimaraes Neto was then able to level the proceedings for Budaiya, but they could not keep up and Najma sealed their win with goals from Redha Marhoon and Alan Damian Gimenez.

The round of 16 continues tonight with Manama and Bahrain Club locking horns and Sitra taking on HM the King’s Cup holders Al Khaldiya.

Then, tomorrow, the round of 16 wraps up with Al Hala facing Tadhamon and Hidd playing against East Riffa.