Hilal shared points with Najran, while Al-Shabab thrashed Al-Hazm 5-0 on the opening night of Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Cup Sunday. The first two rounds of the competition were put off. In a change from the past only players under-21 are allowed to take part in the Cup. At Al-Okhdoud Club Stadium, Al-Hilal shared four goals with its host Najran. Nawaf Al-Subahi put Najran in the lead after 15 minutes, but Mubarak Al-Dar'ami helped Hilal level the score in the 83rd minute. Five minutes later, Ibrahim Khabrani put Najran up again. However, Abdul Aziz Al-Suwailem saved Hilal the blues with an equalizer two minutes later. The match saw three red cards; two against host team - Khaled Hamsal (76th minute) and Abdul-Kareem Al-Yami (93rd), and one against Hilal's Al-Dar'ami (83rd). The other match saw champion Al-Shabab rout visitors Al-Hazm 5-0 at Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Stadium in Al-Shabab Club. Defender Saeed Al-Dosari opened the scoring for Shabab before his teammate midfielder Abdurrahman Baraka doubled the lead. Striker Saqr Otaif then added three for the champion. On Monday, Al-Fateh will host Al-Nasr while Al-Ittihad will play Al-Ittifaq. Al-Ahli and Al-Wehdah encounter was postponed on the respective teams' request since several of their players had been participating in the recently-concluded Asian Youth Cup. Moreover, Al-Qadisiyah will play Al-Ta'awon while Al-Faisali will host Al-Ra'id. The competition, which started as “Saudi Football Federation Cup”, was renamed Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Cup in the year 2000. The change was made in recognition of the efforts and contributions made by the late Prince in sports.
