It was more a day of painful elimination than qualification in the 11th week of the 16th SIFF-Western Union Soccer 2012 at the Ministry of Education Stadium here Friday. While Jeddah Sports Club (JSC) remained unbeaten in Group B by toppling favorite Emami Blue Star B, 2-1, and set up a semifinal date with another big gun Dr. Hassan Gazzawi Hospital ACC-B, Young Challengers Club (YCC) and Combined Brothers bowed out of the championship despite two fighting draws. YCC drew 1-1 with ACC-B whereas Combined Brothers shared four goals with ABC Cargo Yas. The three-month-long event is mainly sponsored by Western Union Money Transfer and supported by Al-Abeer Medical Group, Naseem Jeddah Hospital, Jeddah National Hospital and Rose Biriyani Rice. In Group B of Second Division, JSC kept its slate clean with two wins and two draws and finished behind Blue Star B which had already qualified for the semis with three wins. ABC Cargo Yas and Combined Brothers took the third and fourth positions with five and four points respectively. In Group A, ACC-A remained on top with 10 points with three wins and a draw but YCC made its exit with four points, leaving the second spot open to IISJ and ABC Kerala XI who have four points each. ABC-Yas held the upper hand against Combined Brothers by taking lead twice, only to see the rivals rallying and sharing honors. Mohammed Shabab and Habeeb were the scorers who put Yas ahead whereas Anees and Asghar Ali restored parity for Combined Brothers. Abdul Rahman of Yas was adjudged the Player of the Match. JSC fought its way into the semis by storming to a 2-0 soon after the kick-off against Blue Star B through Mohammed Sadiq and Ilyas Aboobacker. Blue Star reduced the margin through Alimon. Abdul Rahim of JSC was adjudged the Player of the Match. The third match between ACC-B and YCC was a fast and thrilling affair with both the teams going for victory. Player of the Match Naufal Choukly led the moves for ACC-B from the midfield while the evergreen Hamzath schemed lots of threatening moves for YCC. After Rameez put ACC-B in the lead off a brilliant move by Naufal, YCC got the equalizer from Rasheed. Friday's matches: 4:30 P.M. – IISJ vs. ABC Kerala XI; 6:00 P.M. – Al-Abeer ACC A vs. Al-Bassami Friends; 7.30 P.M. – Sharafiya Trading BCC vs. Nadec Blue Star A. — SG __
