Ittihad and Al-Shabab booked their berths Sunday in the semifinals of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques' Cup for Champions after beating Al-Ittifaq and Al-Ahli respectively. Al-Ittihad beat Al-Ittifaq of Dammam in the second-leg match 5-1 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here while Al-Shabab downed Al-Ahli 3-1. The results mean that Al-Ittihad will once again run into Al-Hilal on Thursday, while Shabab will play Al-Hazm the next day in the semifinals. While Al-Ittihad, playing at home, started the match confidently which showed through its players' precise passes and shots, Al-Ittifaq players looked tense following their 1-1 draw in the first-leg match. Al-Hassane Keita opened the score for Al-Ittihad in the 23rd minute when he put a pass from Abdul Rahman Al-Qahtani into A-Ittifaq's goal. The Ghanaian lost a real chance to put Ittihad up 2-0 a minute later. The Jeddah club, however, did not have to wait long for its second goal with Osama Al-Muallad netting the goal in the 28th minute. Al-Ittihad had won a free kick from 27 yards and Chico nudged it a meter away to Al-Muallad who sent it to the top right corner of the Ittifaq goal. Ittifaq came charged up after the break and captain Ali Shihri's shot from outside the box hit the post, but Saleh Basheer was there to complete the goal. Keita succeeded in scoring his second and the team's third goal in the 86th minute when he picked received the ball in the middle of the field, dodged two rival players and then shot the ball into Ittifaq goal. In the 88th minute, Majed Al-Amri of Ittifaq was sin-binned for blocking Keita. Manaf Abu Shogair converted the resulting free kick for the fourth goal for Ittihad, thereby putting the result beyond doubt. Calderon brought on Abdul Aziz Sabiyani for Abu Shogair and he also added his name to the scoresheet with Ittihad's fifth goal two minutes from time. In the other match, Al-Shabab, playing at home after beating the Jeddah club 6-1 last week, started from where it left off - attacking Ahli goal from the starting whistle. It was, however, only in the 45th minute that Shabab found a way to score a goal when Nasser Shamrani scored from the spot after Abdu Otaif fell in the box. Shamrani hit the ball straight at keeper Bisaisi and only scored the goal on the rebound. Shabab's other goals were scored by Faisal Al-Sulatan made (47th miinute) and Badr Al-Haqbani (58th minute). AbduIlah Hawsawi scored the lone goal for Al-Ahli in the 85th minute. __
