Al hilal Vs Al ittihad Goals And Highlights !

[Pharaoh]

It's interesting to know that some Iranians follow the Saudi league...
Yeah, it is interesting to watch the league in the KSA because:
- There are many excellent clubs, not just 2 or 3 teams (like Egypt)...KSA has Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Shabab, Al-Nasser, Al-Ahly, and Al-Ittefaq...
- There 2 derby-like matches when Al-Hilal meet Al-Nasser and Al-Ittihad meet Al-Ahly.
- The huge media and public attention.
- The great support sports get from the Royal family.

Hmm.. the Saudi league is usually more competitive, but the top Saudi teams routinely lose to North African clubs in the Arab Champions League. The league probably brings a little more excitement since its usually more competitive, but but the level of talent and quality of the teams is still less than say Egypt or Tunisia. Average players seem to come out of North Africa and excel in places like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Basically in Saudi you have 3, 5, or 5 teams of similar quality, it doesn't mean there are more clubs of "good" quality compared to some other countries in the ME and NA.

[Pharaoh]

This was nice to see:

Aboucherouane dedicates league triumph to Meteb
Mon, 13 Apr 2009 - 02:32
By: Hatem Maher

Ittihad's Moroccan striker Hicham Aboucherouane dedicated his side's Saudi League triumph to injured teammate Emad Meteb.

The Jeddah-based side had to do without Meteb during their vital 2-1 victory over Hilal that gave them an eighth league title in history.

The Egypt striker missed the game after tearing a cruciate ligament in his knee, the injury that will sideline him for between four and six months.

Aboucherouane, who scored Ittihad's second goal, revealed an undershirt with 'Meteb, wish you speedy recovery' written on it.

"I wish Meteb had been celebrating with us tonight," the former Raja Casablanca man told Abu Dhabi TV after the game.

"I'm very sad that he sustained this knee injury. I dedicate our league triumph to him."

Meteb, who spent a one-year loan with Ittihad after joining from Egyptian champions Ahli last summer, played an instrumental role in helping his side win the trophy they last lifted in 2007.

The 26-year-old scored 10 league goals in a successful Saudi adventure.

[El Matador]

Hmm.. the Saudi league is usually more competitive, but the top Saudi teams routinely lose to North African clubs in the Arab Champions League. The league probably brings a little more excitement since its usually more competitive, but but the level of talent and quality of the teams is still less than say Egypt or Tunisia. Average players seem to come out of North Africa and excel in places like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Basically in Saudi you have 3, 5, or 5 teams of similar quality, it doesn't mean there are more clubs of "good" quality compared to some other countries in the ME and NA.

Salam Pharaoh...

I think you're totally wrong in this....I think numbers should talk:

Record of Saudi teams Vs. North African teams In the Arab Champion League (under its current format and the older one):

Saudi Arabia (8 times)
Egypt (2 times)
Tunisia (4 times)
Algeria (3 times)
Morocco (2 times)

Source: kooora.com

It is obvious that the Saudi record is 4 times more than the Egyptian record and double that of the Tunisian record...Saudi record is even more than the 'Collective' record of Egypt and Tunisia.......

The history of one-on-one clashes contain a lot of matches where Saudi clubs were even better than North Africans....just few matches off my memory...Al-Ittihad beat Al-Ahly (Egypt) in the Clubs Corld Cup 1-0 in 2005. Al-Hilal beat Al-Tarajy of Tunisia in the final of an Arab Chmapions tournament in Riyadh 1-0.

Clashes of the national team also show that Saudi Arabia are VERY up to it....Saudi Arabia beat Egypt 5-1 !!! in 1999...they've also beaten Morocco 2-1 in World Cup 1994....and drew 2-2 with Tunisia in World Cup 2006.

In the recent years, I've noticed an increased concentration of Saudi teams in the Asian Championships as opposed to the Arabian ones, this is because the Asian Competitions have an international exposure (the winner gets to play in the Clubs World Cup). That's why teams of North Africa are getting an advantage recently in the Asian Champions League.

[Pharaoh]

Salam Pharaoh...
I think you're totally wrong in this....I think numbers should talk:
Record of Saudi teams Vs. North African teams In the Arab Champion League (under its current format and the older one):
Saudi Arabia (8 times)
Egypt (2 times)
Tunisia (4 times)
Algeria (3 times)
Morocco (2 times)
Source: kooora.com
It is obvious that the Saudi record is 4 times more than the Egyptian record and double that of the Tunisian record...Saudi record is even more than the 'Collective' record of Egypt and Tunisia.......
The history of one-on-one clashes contain a lot of matches where Saudi clubs were even better than North Africans....just few matches off my memory...Al-Ittihad beat Al-Ahly (Egypt) in the Clubs Corld Cup 1-0 in 2005. Al-Hilal beat Al-Tarajy of Tunisia in the final of an Arab Chmapions tournament in Riyadh 1-0.
Clashes of the national team also show that Saudi Arabia are VERY up to it....Saudi Arabia beat Egypt 5-1 !!! in 1999...they've also beaten Morocco 2-1 in World Cup 1994....and drew 2-2 with Tunisia in World Cup 2006.
In the recent years, I've noticed an increased concentration of Saudi teams in the Asian Championships as opposed to the Arabian ones, this is because the Asian Competitions have an international exposure (the winner gets to play in the Clubs World Cup). That's why teams of North Africa are getting an advantage recently in the Asian Champions League.

Salam ya Matador . You're conveniently leaving out one huge fact when comparing the numbers to Egypt. Egypt has not sent either of it's top 2 (and sometimes not even 3rd or 4th best) to this tournament in how long? No Ahly, no Zamalek.

- No team from the Gulf even made it to the Arab Champions League group stage last year. Meanwhile a no-name club from Egypt (Tala el Geish) was in the semi-finals.

- Even Algerian clubs (who haven't made it to the group stage of the African Champions league in 20 years) are winning this tournament and eliminating Saudi clubs.

2009: All 4 semi-finalists are North African (no gulf club even in the group stage)
2008: 3 semi-finalists were North African (and the 4th was from Jordan)
2007: ES Setif (ALG) beats Al Ahli (KSA) in the final
2006: 3 semi-finalists were North African (and the 4th was from Jordan)
2005: The only year the semifinals were a majority Gulf clubs (3/4)
2004: 3 semi-finalists were North African

So since 2004:

16 North African teams have been in the semifinals
Just 5 were from the gulf

As for the Egyptian national team vs. Saudi Arabia:

Egypt played Saudi Arabia 10 times in history. The Saudis won once, and Egypt had 3 red cards that game . And only one of those 10 matches was even in Egypt. The last two contests were both wins for Egypt, one in Saudi and one in Cairo.

- 1961 / Saudi Arabia 0:13 Egypt
- 1963 / Saudi Arabia 0:7 Egypt
- 1975 / Saudi Arabia 1:2 Egypt
- 1975 / Saudi Arabia 0:2 Egypt
- 1988 / Saudi Arabia 0:0 Egypt
- 1988 / Saudi Arabia 0:0 Egypt
- 1992 / Saudi Arabia 2:3 Egypt
- 1999 / Saudi Arabia 5:1 Egypt (3 red cards to Egypt, including 2 in the first half)
- 2004 / Saudi Arabia 0:1 Egypt
- 2007 / Egypt 2:1 Saudi Arabia

I know how badly Saudi Arabia loves to compare itself to Egypt and North Africa as a whole (as I've lived in Saudi), but as you can see it's really no contest

And just for the record, Egypt's record against some of your neighbors:

10 matches vs. UAE (7 of which were in UAE): 7 wins for Egypt, 2 draws, 1 loss
1 match vs. Bahrain (your country ): a 1-0 win for Egypt in Manama
6 matches vs. Qatar: 4 wins for Egypt and 2 draws

Last two matches:

29 Jul 2005 / Qatar 0:5 Egypt
17 Mar 2003 / Egypt 6:0 Qatar

[El Matador]

Salam . You're conveniently leaving out one huge fact when comparing the numbers to Egypt. Egypt has not sent either of it's top 2 (and sometimes not even 3rd or 4th best) to this tournament in how long? No Ahly, no Zamalek.

No team from the Gulf even made it to the Arab Champions League group stage last year! Meanwhile a no-name club from Egypt (Tala el Geish) was in the semi-finals.

Even Algerian clubs (who haven't made it to the group stage of the African Champions league in 20 years!) are winning this tournament and eliminating Saudi clubs.

2009: All 4 semi-finalists are North African
2008: 3 semi-finalists were North African (and the 4th was from Jordan)
2007: ES Setif (ALG) beats Al Ahli (KSA) in the final
2006: 3 semi-finalists were North African (and the 4th was from Jordan)
2005: The only year the semifinals were a majority Gulf clubs (3/4)
2004: 3 semi-finalists were North African

So since 2004:

16 North African teams have been in the semifinals
Just 5 were from the gulf

As for the Egyptian national team vs. Saudi Arabia:

Egypt played Saudi Arabia 10 times in history. The Saudis won once, and Egypt had 3 red cards that game . And only one of those 10 matches was even in Egypt. The last two contests were both wins for Egypt, one in Saudi and one in Cairo.

- 1961 / Saudi Arabia 0:13 Egypt
- 1963 / Saudi Arabia 0:7 Egypt
- 1975 / Saudi Arabia 1:2 Egypt
- 1975 / Saudi Arabia 0:2 Egypt
- 1988 / Saudi Arabia 0:0 Egypt
- 1988 / Saudi Arabia 0:0 Egypt
- 1992 / Saudi Arabia 2:3 Egypt
- 1999 / Saudi Arabia 5:1 Egypt (3 red cards to Egypt, including 2 in the first half)
- 2004 / Saudi Arabia 0:1 Egypt
- 2007 / Egypt 2:1 Saudi Arabia

I know how badly Saudi Arabia loves to compare itself to Egypt and North Africa as a whole (as I've lived in Saudi), but as you can see it's really no contest

See Pharaoh....

Its not Saudi problem that Egypt is not sending its top teams !! contests were there where several teams competed and there was a winner....8 Championships Vs. 2 for Egypt and 4 for Tunisia is something you can't shatter so easily with that claim....

I agree that North African teams are recently showing better performances than Saudi teams because of the shift if attention for Saudi teams toward the Asian Champions League....If you've noticed some top North African (Like Al-Ahli or Al-Zamalek) teams are also not giving much of importance for the Arab Champions League....I don't consider it a representative for the best Arab team.

If you compare clashes of Egypt against any Arab team, then definitly Egypt would have a better record because football was played there earlier than other Arab nations....there used to be a huge gap between Saudi and her North African neigbours, but that was until the 1990s when they started to catch up....you would've noticed that Egypt got very narrow wins over KSA since the 1980s, and there are many draws....

Our point here is not to prove Saudi or Egypt is better than anyone....all I'm saying is that Saudi football has its achievements that should be look upon with respect and has reached a level where it's competing equally with their North African counterparts....something you've totally dismissed, which I honestly find too harsh.....

[Pharaoh]

See Pharaoh....
Its not Saudi problem that Egypt is not sending its top teams !! contests were there where several teams competed and there was a winner....8 Championships Vs. 2 for Egypt and 4 for Tunisia is something you can't shatter so easily with that claim....
I agree that North African teams are recently showing better performances than Saudi teams because of the shift if attention for Saudi teams toward the Asian Champions League....If you've noticed some top North African (Like Al-Ahli or Al-Zamalek) teams are also not giving much of importance for the Arab Champions League....I don't consider it a representative for the best Arab team.
If you compare clashes of Egypt against any Arab team, then definitly Egypt would have a better record because football was played there earlier than other Arab nations....there used to be a huge gap between Saudi and her North African neigbours, but that was until the 1990s when they started to catch up....you would've noticed that Egypt got very narrow wins over KSA since the 1980s, and there are many draws....
Our point here is not to prove Saudi or Egypt is better than anyone....all I'm saying is that Saudi football has its achievements that should be look upon with respect and has reached a level where it's competing equally with their North African counterparts....something you've totally dismissed, which I honestly find too harsh.....

Definitely Egypt started playing football first, but Saudi Arabia and its neighbors are playing football now, right? Almost all of the stats from my previous post are from the 90s on.

Anyway, I am not denying Saudi Arabia's football record or achievements. They've done some good things and kudos to them (94 World Cup for example, superb achievement). I'm simply responding to your comparison of regional football.