Shabab cruised to the Crown Prince Cup's semifinal following a 1-0 victory over Al-Fateh at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawi Stadium in Al-Ahsa, Wednesday. Ahmed Ajab of Kuwait scored in the second half to seal the win of Riyadh side and set a semifinal clash with Al-Hazm which also qualified after beating Al-Ittifaq 2-0 in Al-Rass. Al-Hazm will host the semifinal on Feb. 22. Al-Shabab, which lost to Al-Hilal in last year's competition, faced a strong resistance from the first division club before the Kuwaiti striker ended the home team hopes to reach the semifinal for the first time. Coming to the match in high spirits after a 2-1 win over five-time winner Al-Ahli, Al-Fateh began the match defensively, trying to kill any attempt from visitors to take lead. Al-Shabab tried on many occasions to break the defense but Al-Ahsa players showed a gritty performance. With only Ahmed Ajab in the front, Al-Shabab was unable to threaten its rival despite attacking from two wings through Abdullah Shuhail and Nasser Al-Shamrani. Meanwhile, Al-Fateh's counterattacks were not efficient on Shabab goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah. After the break, Al-Shabab pressed forward aiming to end Al-Fateh run for penalty shoot-outs. In the 68th minute, Ajab headed Camatcho's long cross to hit the back of the net of Al-Fateh goalkeeper. The goal was first for the Kuwaiti striker who signed for Al-Shabab about two months ago. The home side tried to equalize with a 85th minute attempt when Faisal Al-Jaman sent a free kick just few inches away from Waleed Abdullah's left post. In Al-Hazm and Al-Ittifaq match, Theab Majrashi scored after 14 minutes to make his side dominate the match. Last year's runner-up Al-Ittifaq made all efforts to draw level but Waleed Al-Jizani doubled Al-Hazm's lead as he scored from the spot in the 64th minute. On Thursday, Al-Ittihad hosts Al-Nasr at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium while defending champion Al-Hilal travels to Makkah to play Al-Wehdah in their run to the semifinal round. Beckham would be welcome back with Galaxy Regardless of David Beckham's comments, Chris Klein said he and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates would welcome his return. “We want him back,” Klein said on Tuesday. “David's a very good player and a he's a great teammate. We are gearing up for the season.” __
