Official Saudi Professional League Thread. The league will Start today. Here is the Schedule: http://www.goalzz.com/main.aspx?c=3964 Team (City) Al Ittihad (Jeddah) Al Hilal (Riyadh) Al Shabab (Riyadh) Al Ittifaq (Dammam) Al Nasr (Riyadh) Al Watani (Tabuk) Al Wehda (Mecca) Al Ahli (Jeddah) Najran (Najran) Abha (Abha) Al Raed (Buraidah) Al Hazm (Ar'ras)
HT scores: Ittihad 2-0 Ra'ed Very comfortable for Ittihad so far. Both goal from set pieces. Mote'eb headed in a free kick, and Noor a corner. Interesting lineup from Calderon, look at the midfield: Nemri - Manaf - Amin - Noor Clearly from the central midfield combo, Calderon prefers creative players to destroyers. But I guess you can be daring when you're playing against a weak opponent. Ittifaq 2-0 Watani Shabab 0-0 Najran
For 13 seasons, the championship has not gone to any club other than Itti, Al-Hilal, and Al-Shabab, and I don't think that's going to change this season. If I were a betting man, I would bet on Itti. Their foreign signings looked fantastic today, and two of them are strikers. Al-Hilal on the other hand is basically playing with only one (half-fit) striker this season. Also, not only are they strong to begin with, but they only had 2 players with the NT this summer, so all their players are fresh and rested and ready to go. Al-Hilal has assembled a great defense this season, however, and if the foreigners stay fit, they're definitely in with a chance. Al-Shabab also has a decent chance, but only if Al-Ittihad falls apart for some reason. The other teams are just playing for the ACL spots.
Abha 0-3 Al Hilal Al Nasr 2-1 Ahly Al Wehda 2-1 Al Hazm lot of goals in the league start.. 3 goals per match!
Hilal 2-0 Re'ad Ahly 2-1 Shabab Al Wehda 1-2 Al Nasr Al Watani 1-2 Ittihad Al Hazm 1-1 Ettifaq Najran 1-1 Abha
great start for al-nasr, I hope they can keep up the performance. consistancey will be thier challenge.In the end i think its going to be between al-hilal and itihad shabac will be third.
^ You're right at the past 12 years the league was between Hilal, Itti and Shabab. So I think one of them will take the title this year.
Why on earth would you hope for that????? By the way, the league is going on hiatus until October 4th, unfortunately, due to the holidays. Also, it looks like Ronald Raldes will miss Hilal's games against Ahly and Nasr, and Wilhelmsson will miss the game against Ahly due to the WCQ's.
So Emad Moteb and Bo Sharwan from Ittihad and some other players too. Anyways Al Furaidi was Nice last matches. He Scored A Goal and Assist one. if you watch the highlights again you will see that he really was a play maker! He gaved the strikers a lot of Chances.
We played well in the second half. Tarek made a big difference, but Shalhoub and Sweileh missed a lot of chances (especially Shalhoub!!). But the schedule is messed up; we won't play against any good teams for a long time, but in the last critical games of the season we have to play Al-Nasr, Al-Ittifag, Al-Shabab, and Itti one after the other!
Inshaallah, Al Nasr will have a chance to become champions this year, they have good players, i just hope they don't screw up against the big teams like hilal, ittihad or even shabab! I have always been a nasrawy and always will be, and i've been waiting for this from a long time ago
I don't think they can with these players . that's what I got from the E mail from my Nasrawi friend.. Al Hilal logo looks like superman's. that's the effect of weed.
If we scored half of them it would be end 5-0 at least. the good part is No one scored aginst us. that makes Al Hilal have the best defence in the league at the moment.
Regarding schedules, while playing the tough games right at the end isn't ideal, it isn't bad. It certainly isn't as bad as playing them right at the beginning. Ahli's first games were both tough. Had they lost both they'd be playing catch up with the season hardly started. Overall, decent start to the season for Ittihad. Calderon building up the team nicely, you feel there is a system being introduced. Squad looking healthy as well. The new signings look great, and I'm happy to see the manager also nurturing the youngsters. Defence still a bit jittery, but otherwise looking good.
lets just hope those palyers perform good. btw i had always cheered for al-naser......ahhhhhh I miss KSA alot, i miss watching the saudi league while eating lays chips that i bought in a near bagala.hay
I'm sure this year we will see an exciting Derby this year. and there will be a lot of HOT matches. It will be a tough One this year. All the big 5 teams have lot of money, good managers and players.