League

Hitchin
Spectators: 5000 (Terracing: 4000, Seating: 1000, VIP seats: 0) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Masoud Abdul Qadir started the match with the kick off. Amir Mumtaz hit a great freekick 3 minutes into the match. In the 5th minute, Wakil Husam ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Talib Ghanim was frozen by the shot and now it was 0-1. After 9 played minutes Hitchin got a freekick which was hit by Anwar Ghanim. Talib Ghanim made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Afşin Derem in the 10th minute of play. 11 minutes had been played when some careless play by Hitchin's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Hafiz Abou Adal was slow to take the kick. During this time Atletico Beirut's players had a chance to rest. A nice corner shot did that Hafiz Abou Adal got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Talib Ghanim quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. In the 13th minute the ball was on its way in behind Hitchin's goalkeeper Talib Ghanim, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. Tawfiq Zidan hit a great freekick 13 minutes into the match. The audience was convinced that Masoud Abdul Qadir's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Farid Ayham was relentless in the 15th minute of the game. A collision led to Atletico Beirut getting a freekick after 18 minutes play. Miroslaw Ogrodowicz hit a great ball. An unexpectedly hard shot by Afşin Derem in the 23rd minute of play forced Hitchin's goalkeeper Talib Ghanim to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Nasri El Hariri hit a great freekick 26 minutes into the match. Through an outstanding action, after 28 minutes, Farid Ayham successfully got his hands on the ball before it slid into the goal at the right post. After a rather tough play, Atletico Beirut's Hafiz Abou Adal got a free kick in the 29th minute. Hisham Mumtaz blasted a shot towards the goal in the 31st minute, but the shot hit the top of the crossbar and went out without Talib Ghanim having to make a save. In the 36th minute Wakil Husam shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Talib Ghanim saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. 38 minutes into the match, Hitchin's goal looked a bit too open when Hisham Mumtaz came free, but Talib Ghanim reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Afşin Derem took the ball and in the 39 minute, shot a rapid shot to the right of a surprised Talib Ghanim. Talib Ghanim dived to the right, and did manage to get a hand on the shot, but it still went into the right corner making it 0-2. 44 minutes into the game, Hisham Mumtaz cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 0-3. Talib Ghanim was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. Even after changing tactics the home team jogged off the field with a 0-3 deficit. They would have to work harder if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.

When the second half was about to start, both teams quickly lined up and Afşin Derem made a kick off. Farid Ayham showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Masoud Abdul Qadir, who was totally free with the ball in the 53rd minute. Talib Ghanim was a little too slow when Wakil Husam got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 57th minute. The score was now 0-4. 61 minutes into the match, Hitchin's goal looked a bit too open when Wakil Husam came free, but Talib Ghanim reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. A collision led to Hitchin getting a freekick after 65 minutes play. Yousef Al Tayyib hit a great ball. After 68 played minutes Atletico Beirut got a freekick which was hit by Wakil Husam. Hitchin's Talib Ghanim played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Wakil Husam in the 73rd minute of play. 81 minutes into the match, Afşin Derem had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Talib Ghanim. Hitchin's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Afşin Derem was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 0-6. In the 84th minute, Saad Mujahid hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Talib Ghanim didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Afşin Derem went, in the 87th minute, to the upper right corner, 0-7 was the resulting score. Wakil Husam hit a great freekick 90 minutes into the match. Farid Ayham showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Anwar Ghanim, who was totally free with the ball in the 92nd minute. 95 minutes into the match, Atletico Beirut's goal looked a bit too open when Ammar Adas came free, but Farid Ayham reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. When the match was over Atletico Beirut could go home with a victory in their luggage, having controlled the game far better than Hitchin throughout the match.