RIYADH: Al-Shabab defeated Al-Ittihad 5-4 in a titanic battle on Friday night to secure a place in the final of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation Women’s Cup against Al-Ahly, who had defeated Al-Qadsiah in the day’s other semifinal, Arriyadiyah have reported.
Star forward Al-Bandari Mubarak gave the home team a two-goal lead at Al-Shabab Stadium with strikes in the 30th and 32nd minutes, before Lili Iskanadr halved the deficit for Al-Ittihad in the 39th minute.
Noura Ibrahim re-established Al-Shabab’s two goal advantage in the 62nd minute and Fatima Mansour looked to have settled the match with a fourth on 71 minutes.
There was still plenty of time for flurry of late goals.
Al-Ittihad scored through Salma Amani (74) to make it 4-2, before Mai Sweilem put the match to bed with Al-Shabab’s fifth on 87 minutes.
Strikes by Seba Tawfiq in the 89th minute and Tala Al-Ghamdi in the second minute of stoppage time proved a mere consolation for Ittihad as Al-Shabab secured a famous 5-4 win.
In the day’s other semifinal, Al-Ahly overcame Al-Qadsiah 3-2 with two goals from Moroccan star Ibtisam Jaradi and one from Houria Al-Shamrani.
An own-goal and a strike by Ajara Njoya proved insufficient to save Al-Qadsiah from defeat.
