scoring trend continued in the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup when Al-Hazm thrashed its guest Al-Shabab of Riyadh 4-2, in the first leg semifinal at Al-Rass Stadium. For Al-Hazm Saeed Al-Shoun (25th), Saud Al-Khaibari (59th and 75th) and Abdullah Ghazi (87th) scored while Naser Al-Shamrani (52nd, 69th) reduced the margin for Al-Shabab. Al-Hazm played the first half with one striker, Fahd Al-Shammari as the Tunisian coach Ammar Al-Suaiyeh wanted to focus on defense. Until the 11th minute of the first half, Hazm dominated, but its players were not lucky to score. After that, Shabab started breaking in through the right side of Al-Hazm. In the 25th minute, the Omani defender Saeed Al-Shoun, who moved forward to during a corner, beat Al-Shabab goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah, heading home Hazm's opener. Shabab players began attacking from both flanks and earned about six free kicks, but Hazm defenders and goalkeeper Mansour Al-Naj'ae kept their fort safe. Unfortunately, Al-Shabab strikers Naser Al-Shamrani and Faisal Al-Sultan were off-color. In between, Al-Hazm playmaker Ahmed Minawer saw the yellow card, which will keep him out for the second leg match. The teams resumed the second half without making any change. Five minutes later, Abdullah Al-Shuhail replaced Zaid Al-Muallad. It helped Shabab to improve its performance. In the 52nd minute, Al-Hazm scorer Saeed Al-Shoun tried to prevent Faisal Sultan of Al-Shabab from finishing a corner kick in the box and the Spanish referee Julian Santiago pointed to the spot. Naser Al-Shamrani confidently scored converted for the equalizer. In the 59th minute, Saud Al-Khaibari of Hazm gave his team the lead from the spot. In an attempt to strengthen his team's frontline, Shabab coach replaced Abdu Otaif with the Argentinian Martinez in the 67th minute. Just after two minutes Martinez passed the ball into the box to Naser Al-Shamrani who shot into the net, another equalizer for Shabab. In the 75th minute Saud Al-Khaibari got past three Al-Shabab defenders to enter the box and blast home. The bullet shot torn the net in one of the rare strikes. Soon after this goal Al-Shabab coach Heinz Hector was shown the red card. On the other hand, Al-Hazm coach Suaiyeh asked his players to stay calm and counterattack. In the 87th minute, Fahd Al-Shammari sent a long pass into the box for a waiting Abdullah Ghazi who controlled the ball and completed the tally for Al-Hazm. The five-minute injury time witnessed fine performance by Al-Hazm goalkeeper Naj'ae, who at least saved two sure goals. Hazm players Majed Al-Marhoum and Ahmed Minawer will not take part in the second leg match in Riyadh due to yellow cards. Shabab had qualified to the semifinals after winning over Al-Ahli 6-1 in Jeddah in the first leg, and later 3-1 in Riyadh in the second, while Al-Hazm had defeated Al-Nasr 3-2 in the first leg and won a shootout 6-5 in the second leg. __
