Club World Championship

[shahz_nerazzurri]

I dont know how many of you are watching this, as this tournament has failed badly to get the attention it deserves. Its just a tournament where champion teams for Six continents of the world play agaisnt each other.

Liverpool and Sao Paulo were given automatic entries in to the semis, while Asian Champions Alittihad of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (the same team that had come to italy in summer to play friendlies agianst both the Milanese sides, they got thrashed 6-0 by Milan, with Bobbo getting a hatrick , and 2-1 by us ) had to come agianst African champions Al Ain of Egypt. AlIttihad won that game 1-0, while Concacaf champions Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica beat Sydney FC of Australia 1-0 to set up a semi final tie with Liverpool.

The first of the semis, between Ittihad and Sao Paulo was thought by many as a one sided affair, when you comapre the diffrences b/t Saudi & Brazilian football. But Ittihad agaisnt all odds, managed to get a fight out of the game, and just lost 3-2, while their were definete periods in the game when the Saudi side was clearly looking superior, Mohammad Kallon had a wonderful game, he kept terrorising the Sao Paulo defence. But alas the Bralians proved too strong for them and managed to win the game. B/t Ittiahd had requsted Bilan & Barca to loan them Kaka & Eto for this tournament , talk about desperation.

The other semi final proved one sided affair as Liverpool swept past Saprissa 3-0.

The Final is on sunday, with Liverpool clearly looking the favourites, eventhough they might be saying that they dont care about this tournament, but the truth is if they win it, you'll never hear the end of 'WE ARE THE F_CKIN WORLD CHAMPIONS ' Sao Paulo on the other hand only managed to finish a lowly 6th in the recently concluded Brazilian chamionship, and thier struggle against Ittihad, can raise some eye brows over their ability to compete with Liverpool.

BEST OF LUCK SAO PAULO

 

[Hammoudi]

Ittihad beat Ahly of Egypt. Ain were the finalist of the Asian CL, and they lost to Ittihad.

Yeah, Ittihad played well in the tournament. And you know what is worse, they were denied the chance to use 3 of their Brazilian players whom they bought for a lot of money just for these tournmanent.

And even worse, some Saudi officials who work for Hilal FC ( the peferred team in Saudi) tipped Ahly to tell them that Ittihad had signed the players without permission of the Saudi FA, or something like that. Then, Ahly complained to FIFA and FIFA told Ittihad they can't use the players.

Pretty sad and lame, this because Ittihad player won the Asian PFY beating out Sami El Jaber. Also, most of Ittihad players are not chosen for the NT because they play for Ittihad. This may shed a little light onto the pathetic Saudi FA and how they choose players.

 

[snake]

sydney were jibbed

 

[Cro Nerazzurro]

Yeah, Ittihad played well in the tournament. And you know what is worse, they were denied the chance to use 3 of their Brazilian players whom they bought for a lot of money just for these tournmanent.

LOL :star: :dielaugh:

 

[shahz_nerazzurri]

Ittihad beat Ahly of Egypt. Ain were the finalist of the Asian CL, and they lost to Ittihad.

Yeah, Ittihad played well in the tournament. And you know what is worse, they were denied the chance to use 3 of their Brazilian players whom they bought for a lot of money just for these tournmanent.

And even worse, some Saudi officials who work for Hilal FC ( the peferred team in Saudi) tipped Ahly to tell them that Ittihad had signed the players without permission of the Saudi FA, or something like that. Then, Ahly complained to FIFA and FIFA told Ittihad they can't use the players.

Pretty sad and lame, this because Ittihad player won the Asian PFY beating out Sami El Jaber. Also, most of Ittihad players are not chosen for the NT because they play for Ittihad. This may shed a little light onto the pathetic Saudi FA and how they choose players.

My bad about the mix up b/t AlAin & AlAhly, they sound so similiar

Hamed, are you a Saudi national??, I just dont understand you. Saudi football is not like Italian or English football. For them national pride always come first. The whole of Saudi Arabia was supporting Ittihad for the club championship, be it Helal suppoter or Nisar suppoter. I have many Saudi friends in Riyadh, and they were all like 'Damn, ittihad went out of the tournament'. So i just dont think its possible for Helal officials to try to embarras a club of thier own country.

Al Helal may be the more popular club in Saudia, and maybe more popular with Saudi football assocaition, beacuse its from capital city, but I dont even agree that they deliberately have more players chosen for national team. Saudi's passion for their country is by far more than their passion for their clubs.

Anyway on topic, Sydney FC defeated Al Ahly in the 5-6th position play off. Ittihad play Saprissa tommorow for 3-4 match, while the Final is also tommorow.
Best of luck to Ittihad and Sao Paulo (PLS EMBARRAS LIVERPOOL, I BEG YOU SAO PAULO :star: )

 

[Hammoudi]

Shahz, I swear to you that they do these things. I follow the news, newspapers, forums, and I am from there! I can't give you a smoking gun, but if you follow the events and if you have a brain, then you will have the same conclusion as me.

And yes, they mainly choose players from Helal to improve their image. And now, the fired their NT coach and hired the current Helal manager to take the team to the WC.

As for what happened to Ittihad, I can give you their offical forum if you want, and they are the ones that made those accusations. Also, some of the officials from Ahly club said that they were tipped by officals from Helal and Saudi FA, what more proof is there.

Fact is, FA hates all the club, and they tried to put obstacles in front of Ittihad (They banned one of their best defenders for a year for an incident that they normally won't punish any other player)

Your friends seem to be nice, but 90% of Helal supporters were wishing Ittihad lose early and come back home. It would be very hard for me to convince you, unless you read and speak Arabic so that I can give you address of official Helal forum and see their wishes and mockings against Ittihad.

 

[snake]

Yes, did somebody call? :wth:

I have a forum? :sweeteye:

 

[Hammoudi]

LOL, Okay Helal, now tell us slowly what you meant.

 

[Hammoudi]

Moved from FI to here answering UhUhOleguer's question:

Mahdi, there is some truth to that.

Ittihad are a Western club from Jeddah on the Red sea. Jeddah is like a mini Canada or Australia, really! The Saudis over there are mostly not native, and come from a lot of backgrounds (African, Central Asian, other Middle Eastern countries). It's due mostly to its proximity to Mecca (Alot of people came for pilgrimige, and settled there, specially in the 70's.)

If you look at Ittihad's line up, it's full of 'Black' Saudis, and telling by the name, almost all of them are of non Saudi background. Also, Ittihad is almost the only club not owned by a Prince of the Royal family, so it's like a people's club.

And Jeddah is very liberal compared to rest of Saudi. There is less tribal conservatism, and people are extremely open-minded. Riyadh is the complete opposite, it's riddled with tribal conservatism, and almost all the Saudis there are 100% native. And all the power in Saudi is in Riyadh, and Helal is supported by many princes, and is a very well connected club.

Before 1998, things were calm and fair. But since the ex-Sport minister died in 1998, things went downhill. That prince was an ace, loved by everyone, and extremely fair. Sadly, his brother is very weak, and is bossed around by Helal officials. It has become something of a joke now. Since 98, Helal has won a ridiculous amount of trophies, sometimes by ridiculous means. Some of their ex-fans have left them since it's so crystal clear that they cheat and get favours by ref's.

Sadly, there is now alot of frictiona and discrimination against Ittihad players, and most of the Western Saudi's. Even people in the east, where I come from, are starting to hate this central domination by Helal. The feverish support of the NT of the late 80's and early 90's have definitely gone.

LOL, this was one long answer. But it's something I am passionate about since it is really frustrating.

 

[UhUhOleguer]

aaaaaaaah.....I see now crystal clear!! thanks hamed! I didn't really know this about Saudi Arabia's social rifts and that Jeddah is like that. Very interesting and good to know.

Shukran.

 

[Hammoudi]

Afwan

 

[Sharkie]

I support Al-Hilal FC and i supported Ittihad in the World Championships. You need to stop making up your opinion from an official club forum (Full of hardcore fans) they are a very tiny majority. The whole country was cheering for ittihad regardless of whether they like the team or not.

The comment about the national team was silly as well. The players picked from AlHilal are the best in saudi at where they play, can you argue that Sami, Shilhoub, and aziz did not play excellently for saudi, and a hilal youngster scored the goal that beat South Korea.

Ittihad played well in the World Championship, and congrats to them for doing that, all other issues you mentioned, and the information you provided (which to me sounds coloured by a little prejudice against the central region, and Hilal especially)

To call Ittihad "The team of the people" thats classic

 

[Hammoudi]

Sharkie, great to have a Hilal fan like you, trust me.

I am a Nassr fan, and we sure have our history. But you can't deny what happened with Lima and the other Brazilians, who told Ahli about them not being 'illegible' to play?

Anyway, the forum won't need us fighting back and forth, and you can always send me PM's. Like I said, my brother is Helal fan, and many of my friends are, so I don't hate them all, just the favouritism they always get.