Nasr defeated its guest Al-Wasl of the UAE 3-1 in the first leg match of the Gulf Clubs Championship 2009 semifinals at King Fahd International Stadium Thursday. A hat trick by midfielder Ahmed Abbas gave Al-Nasr the victory while striker Saeed Al-Kas gave his team the grace goal. With this win, Nasr has become closer to the finals of the competition to meet Qatar of Qatar if the team succeeds to get a positive result in the away match in Dubai next Tuesday. Abbas put his team in the lead after 18 minutes when he connected a corner kick into the goal. Al-Kas of Al-Wasl succeeded to level the score in the 31st minute, but Abbas repeated the same corner scenario five minutes before the break, but it was header this time. The guest tried hard to bounce back but Al-Nasr goalkeeper Khaled Radhi foiled many attempts. Wasl striker Elton Jose, the former player of Nasr, shot several times from outside the area, but Radhi denied him more than once and Jose became frustrated. Wasl defenders performed aggressively against the annoying Guinean midfielder Pascal Feindouno of Nasr. From a foul on the right, Victor Figueroa sent a cross into the area where Abbas was in the right place to head into the right corner of the goalkeeper to seal both his team's win and his hat trick. The match was attended by a huge number of fans who supported their team so that their team would succeed to bring them the first championship in this season. Al-Nasr came second in the last championship after home country champion Al-Ahli. Saudi U-19 team named Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal Bin Fahd, Deputy President of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW), Assistant Chairman of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and Head of the National Teams Committee approved Wednesday the names of the selected players for the U-19 national team. The selected players will start a six-day preparatory camp in Dammam for the AFC U-19 championship to be held in Zibo, China, in October. The selected 25 players are: Abdullah Al-Mohammed, Yasser Al-Fahmi, Mo'ataz Hawsawi and Mohammed Barnawi from Al-Ahli, Abdullah Al-Shammari, Fahd Al-Yami, Abdullah Al-Nassar, Fahd Al-Rasheedi and Ahmed Al-Jaizani from Al-Nasr, Abdullah Otaif and Saleh Al-Qumaizy from Al-Shabab, Abdullah Al-Sudairy, Hosam Al-Harthi, Khaled Al-Ka'abi and Fahd Al-Juhani from Al-Hilal, Yasser Al-Shahrani and Majed Aseeri from Al-Qadisiyah, Hettan Ba-Habri, Fawaz Al-Qarni, Yahiya Daghreeri, Ma'an Khodhari and Ahmed Asseri from Al-Ittihad, Maher Ismail from Al-Wehdah and Saud Al-Hamsal and Mit'eb Al-Najrani from Najran. With ten points, Saudi Arabia had qualified second after host Iraq which topped Group C of the 2010 qualifiers with 13 points. Iraq defeated Saudi Arabia 3-0 in their last match of the group at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Erbil, Iraq. According to the guidelines of the tournament, teams finishing first and second in each group qualify for the finals.
