Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) cleared Tuesday Cameroonian midfielder of Al-Hilal, Achille Emana, of an impolite finger gesture against Al-Shabab fans. Emana's innocence came after the 24-hour period, which SAFF has given to the photographer to submit the camera and the memory card, ended Tuesday noon. The story began when a licensed football website claimed in its Hilal vs. Shabab match report that Emana had behaved badly against Shabab supporters before he left the field following a second yellow card four minutes before time. At that match, Emana's team was defeated 2-0 in a round-two encounter of the Zain Saudi Professional League at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh last Thursday. Upon a request from the General Secretariat of SAFF, the Law Committee at SAFF opened Sunday an investigation with Emana at the headquarters of the federation. The player was accompanied with an interpreter and a legal adviser of Hilal Club. After confronting Emana with a copy of the photograph, the 29-year-old player, who played at last year's World Cup in South Africa, utterly denied the incident and emphasized that he is a professional footballer who respects spectators and knows how to deal with them. In a statement published on the SAFF official website, Ahmed Sadiq Diyab, official spokesman for SAFF said that the camera memory chip was claimed to be referred to the Ministry of Culture and Information where experts could tell whether the content is factual or just trumped-up. Diyab added that the fact-finding committee has warned the player that the punishment would be made severer in case the content was found credible. However, he pointed out that appropriate legal actions will be taken against the wrongdoer; either Emana or the website that first used the photo. Ittifaq stuns Ittihad Striker Hamad Al-Hamad's late goal against Al-Ittihad put Al-Ittifaq on top of the standings of the Zain Saudi Professional League at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam, Tuesday. Ittihad, which is fifth, will fly to the South Korean capital, Seoul to play the second-leg match of the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League against FC Seoul who Ittihad defeated here in Jeddah 3
