Riffa, Ahli through to HM the King’s Cup quarters

TDT | Manama                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Riffa and Al Ahli marched through last night to the quarter-finals of the 2023/2024 His Majesty the King’s Cup football tournament.

Riffa booked their berth with a resounding 5-0 victory over A’ali, while Ahli followed suit with a 4-0 triumph against Um Al Hassam. Riffa will next take on the winner of the other round-of-16 tie between Muharraq and Galali.

Ahli, on the other hand, will face the victor of the game between Sitra and Busaiteen in the last eight. In Riffa’s victory yesterday, they opened the scoring in the ninth minute through Hashem Sayed Issa.

The national team ace took advantage of some miscommunication between A’ali defender Qassim Saeed Ali and goalkeeper Mohammed Hassan Al Oud and needed only to tap the ball into an empty net. Hazza Ali then added a scorching second, scoring from more than 20 yards out with a left-footed rocket that flew into the top-left corner of goal.

That was enough to give Riffa the two-goal advantage at the break. Just five minutes after the restart, Abdulaziz Khaled made it 3-0 with a goal from close range off a brilliant back-healed pass from Issa.

Another five minutes later Riffa made it 4-0 with Komail Al Aswad sending the ball home off a cross from the right supplied by Sayed Redha Issa. Al Aswad then completed his brace with a 91st minute effort off a brilliantly timed lobbed pass from Jassim Al Shaikh.

In yesterday’s other game, Ahli scored all four of their goals against Um Al Hassam in the second half. The round of 16 continues over the next three days. Tonight, Muharraq and Galali face off while holders Al Hala go up against defending league champions Al Khaldiya.

Tomorrow, Al Shabab play Al Ettihad and Sitra take on Busaiteen; while on Sunday, Hidd battle Al Ettifaq and East Riffa go up against Manama. All matches are scheduled for 7pm kick-offs.

The HM the King’s Cup is the richest football competition in the Kingdom, with the winners taking home BD100,000 in prize money and BD50,000 going to the runners-up. In the 2022/2023 His Majesty the King’s Cup, Hala were crowned champions after a heart-stopping 6-5 victory over Al Ahli in a hugely thrilling penalty shootout in the final.