DNA
RIYADH: Al-Kholood’s historic run to the final of the King Cup last season remains a somewhat surreal achievement for Des Buckingham’s side. Against all odds, and while successfully battling relegation in their second season in the Saudi Pro League, they reached the final of the cup and even took the lead against Al-Hilal before ultimately falling to a 2-1 defeat.
The pride of Al-Rass seem to have set their sights high this season; after earning a draw away from home against Al-Ittihad in their opening game of the SPL season on Saturday, on Wednesday they recorded the joint-highest score of the King Cup Round of 32 with a stellar 5-0 away win against First Division Jeddah (Al-Qadsiah defeated Al-Tai by the same margin on Monday).
The early stages of the match were the Iker Kortajarena show, as the Spanish attacking midfielder completed a hat-trick in the space of 24 minutes, effectively putting the game to bed long before the break.
He opened the scoring in the third minute when he latched onto a Mansour Camara header in the six-yard box and applied a cool finish to put the ball past Yasser Al-Mosaileem. In the 16th minute he unleashed a long-range effort that gave Al-Mosaileem no chance, and the hat-trick was completed in the 27th minute with a precise, dipping curler.
Coba da Costa built on his impressive performance against Al-Ittihad on Saturday with a goal in the 40th minute, rounding the goalkeeper before slotting the ball home from a tight angle. Guga completed the scoring with a long-range strike in the opening moments of the second half.
Al-Taawoun secured a routine 3-0 victory over home side Damac in Khamis Mushayt. Abderrazzak Hamdallah opened his account for the club when he converted from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time, and then set up Rakan Al-Tulayhi to score in the 55th minute. The final goal came from 21-year-old Saif Rashad, who also grabbed his first goal for the club to seal the win in the 77th minute.
In perhaps the biggest surprise of the opening round, First Division side AlUla cruised to a 3-0 home victory over SPL opponents Al-Fateh. The result suggested they might be the dark horse contenders in the competition, after narrowly missing out on promotion to the SPL last season when the lost to Diriyah in the playoffs.
Romell Quioto opened the scoring with a composed finish in the fourth minute, Yoann Barbet added a second in the 23rd, and Sylla Sow converted from the spot in the 75th to send AlUla into the Round of 16 for the first time in club short history.
The draw for the Round of 16 will take place on Thursday at Thmanyah Studios, with all of last season’s top-five SPL finishers — Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, Al-Qadsiah and Al-Ittihad — still in the mix.
