Saudi Gazette report
JEDDAH — It was an incredible journey of amazing performances that enabled Al-Ittihad to realize the dreams of their fans to lift the Roshn Saudi League Cup after a long wait of 14 years. A battalion of amazing professionals, mostly foreigners, scripted history for Al-Ittihad, thanks to its rock-like defense and aggressive and brilliant frontline.
Al-Ittihad won the Saudi Professional League title for the ninth time in its history, after a 3-0 win against 12th placed Al Feiha at the King Salman Sports City stadium on Sunday.
A third-minute strike by Ahmed Sharahili and two goals from Romarinho secured victory for Al-Ittihad, who made compensation for losing the title on the final day of last season. The Jeddah club has had 69 points, five more than Al-Nassr who drew 1-1 with Ettifaq, with one round left to play. Saturday’s result sealed Al-Ittihad their ninth league title.
Sharahili gave the visitors the perfect start, turning in Igor Coronado’s free kick at the far post in the third minute. Romarinho headed in the second from another Coronado free kick during first-half stoppage time. The Brazilian scored his second five minutes from the end. Romarinho scored his 100th goal in the yellow jersey.
The Egyptian duo Ahmed Hegazy and Tariq Hamed have contributed significantly to clinch the league title by Al-Ittihad. The professional league competitions also saw Marcelo Grohe shine in defending the team’s net, Igor Coronado in making goals, Bruno Henrique in imposing dominance in the midfield, and Abderazak Hamdallah in shaking the nets of opponents throughout the course of the league.
The Angolan Helder Costa is the least involved with the team in official matches, but his services were always used in the event that the team lost one of its main foreign players as the regulation requires the participation of only seven foreigners in matches, with the presence of the eighth professional outside the list.
Al-Ittihad team’s defense line became the strongest among the 14 teams participating in the league, as it scored only 13 goals, while it scored the second strongest attack with 58 goals.