| Date | Saturday 15th December 2012 | ||||
| Time | 15:25 CET | ||||
Saudi Arabia reached the final of the GCC U23 Cup after an emphatic 3-0 victory over UAE in the semifinal on Saturday.
Two first half goals from Abdul Rahman Al Ghamdi and a 77th minute strike from Fahd Msaed were enough for the young green falcons who will be looking for their second title in this competition and their first since the inaugural edition in 2008, when they face Bahrain in the final on Tuesday.
The Bahrainis booked their place in the final after a thrilling penalty shootout win over hosts Qatar in the other semifinal.
Two first half goals from Abdul Rahman Al Ghamdi and a 77th minute strike from Fahd Msaed were enough for the young green falcons who will be looking for their second title in this competition and their first since the inaugural edition in 2008, when they face Bahrain in the final on Tuesday.
The Bahrainis booked their place in the final after a thrilling penalty shootout win over hosts Qatar in the other semifinal.
The young Ennabi was one of the favorites to win this tournament’s title after their impressive group stage performance, and they ended the first half with a 1-0 lead thanks to an injury-time header from Ahmed Alaa.
But, they were reduced to 10 men in the 62nd minute after Ahmed Fadel got himself in trouble, and that proved to be the turning point in the game as the Bahrainis equalized a minute later through Ahmed Rashed.
Saud Al Khalaqi restored the lead for the hosts in the 75th minute, but few minutes from time, Bahrain was awarded a controversial penalty thanks to poor refereeing. The ball struck the face of Ahmed Alaa but the Saudi Referee somehow thought he handled the ball!!!!
Mojtaba Ghlom successfully converted the penalty and the match went into Penalty shootout, where the Bahraini keeper Khaled Abdul Karim was at his best saving twice to give his team a 4-2 victory.
