Shabab retained the King's Cup crown following a 4-0 thumping of Al-Ittihad in the final played at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on Friday. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, patronized the final match and gave away the trophy and medals to the winning side. Al-Ittihad, which lost last year's final 3-1 to the same rival at the same venue, bagged the silver medals, while Al-Hilal won the bronze medals after beating Al-Hazm 5-4 on penalties Thursday. Besides the cup, Al-Shabab took home SR4 million in cash for winning the title. Al-Ittihad received the second spot prize worth SR2.5m, while Al-Hilal bagged SR1.5m and the fourth-placed Al-Hazm picked up a purse of SR1 million. Al-Ittihad's Saleh Al-Saqri scored an own goal to put Al-Shabab in front early in the first half. Nasser Al-Shamrani doubled the lead few minutes later while Hassan Fallatah and substitute Faisal Al-Sultan helped seal the victory for Al-Shabab after the break. Al-Ittihad's task might have been easier but the team was shocked after goalkeeper Mabrouk Zaid and defender Saleh Al-Saqri both were given their marching orders. Al-Shabab was awarded a penalty five minutes into the match when Hamad Al-Montashiri pulled down Al-Shabab's Marcello Camacho inside the box. Striker Al-Shamrani, however, hit the ball wide. Five minutes later Al-Shamrani tried to collect a pass from Abdullah Shuhail but Al-Saqri's deflection put it into his own goal. Enzo Toress' men kept up the pressure on the visitors and doubled the lead 10 minutes later when Al-Shamrani broke the off-side trap to hit the ball to the right side of the keeper. Al-Ittihad's misery intensified when its keeper Zaid was sent off for a dangerous tackle against the advancing Al-Shabab striker, Abdul Aziz Al-Saran, just outside the box in the 38th minute. The only real scoring opportunity for the visitors came in the 43rd minute when Al-Shabab keeper Waleed Abdullah made a good save on Moroccan Hicham Aboucherouane's 20-yard free kick. Al-Ittihad was reduced to nine men minutes after the break when Saleh Al-Saqri was booked for an offensive foul against Al-Saran. Al-Ittihad skipper Mohammed Noor was fielded in the second half but even his injection into the side failed to stop rival team's attacks. Hassan Moath increased the lead in the 71st minute when he put the ball into the goal of substitute keeper Taiser Al-Netaif from a narrow angle on the right side. Eight minutes later, Camacho struck with a long-range shot but Al-Netaif denied him the chance. Substitute Faisal Al-Sultan, however, sealed the win for Al-Shabab in the 91st minute when coming almost face to face against keeper Al-Netaif he angled the ball into the Al
