Ittihad put one foot in the final of the King's Cup for Champions after routing host Al-Hilal 3-0 in the first leg of their semifinals at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh Wednesday. Algerian striker Abdul-Malik Ziaya put Ittihad in the lead in the fifth minute, before skipper Mohammed Noor doubled the lead from the spot in the 82nd minute. Portuguese midfielder Paulo Jorge sealed the win for the Tigers two minutes later. The first goal was set up by Jorge, who dodged two Hilal players before sending a cross to Ziaya who in turn tabbed the ball into the far right corner of Hilal keeper Hasan Al-Otaibi. In their search for an equalizer, Hilal pressed forward, but in vain. Hilal's Argentine coach Gabriel Calderon brought Swedish midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson in after the break. He later also replaced striker Eisa Al-Mohayani with Egyptian striker Ahmed Ali. Ittihad's Belgian coach Dimitri Davidovic, on the other hand, decided to strengthen his team's defense. He brought in defender Ridha Takar for midfielder Sultan Al-Numari. Faced with continued threat by Hilal forwards, Davidovic took off Ziaya for an energetic striker Naif Hazzazi. Ittihad managed to win a penalty in the 81st minute when Hilal's Korean defender Young Lee blocked Jorge's shot with his hand. The Spanish referee, Carlos Gomez, immediately pointed to the spot, where Noor made no mistake to make it 2-0. Two minutes later, another Hilal defender Abdullatif Al-Ghannam made a frustrating mistake when he failed to control a ball outside the box. Jorge immediately ran off with the ball into the blue area before shooting the ball into the far right corner of Otaibi. Wilhelmsson received a red card three minutes before time for a dangerous tackle against Misha'al Al-Saeed. Hilal missed the services of a number of its key players, including striker Yasser Al-Qahtani, along with midfielders Khalid Aziz, Nawaf Al-Abed and Abdul Aziz Al-Dousari and defender Osama Hawsawi. Portugal's attacking midfielder Nuno Assis was the Ittihad's prominent absentee. The two teams will meet again in Jeddah Sunday for the second leg of the semifinals. Al-Wehdah will host Al-Ahli at the King Abdul Aziz Sports City Stadium Thursday.
