SDI and Al Inthar advance to semifinals of SRFC
sharjah — SDI and Al Inthar advanced to the semifinals of the Sharjah Ramadan Football Championship (SRFC) at the Sharjah Sports Club.
The tournament is being organised by Sharjah Sports Channel for the third year in a row under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, and runs until June 1.
SDI survived soem anxious moments before defeating Al Bayan 5-4 via the penalty shootout after scores were locked 3-3 at the end of regulation time.
In the other match, Al Inthar routed Al Nojoom 6-1 to ensure a last four berth.
In the SDI-Al Bayan match, Al Bayan soon established dominance in midfield and through some excellent team-play created a chance for Portuguese striker Morier Vieira to open the scoring. In the seventh minute, SDI came back through Brazilian striker Ciego Tellez who led the attack to net his second shortly afterwards.
Al Bayan proved up to the task and Ahmed Al Suwaidi levelled the scores, only to see Mohammed Fada’q edge SDI ahead again to put them into the break at 3-2 up in what had been an see-saw first half.
In the second period, it took nine minutes to break the deadlock, again Vieira stamping his mark on the game to level the scores with a third goal for Al Bayan. At 3-3, a certain amount of caution crept into the game and despite the occasional exchange of strikes, normal time finished in a 3-3 draw.
Neither side would have wanted a sudden-death penalty shoot-out to decide the result, but SDI came out happier through two conversions from Brazilian Oliveira and Ahmed Khalfan, while Al Bayan could only reply with a single goal from Vieira, ending the match with a nail-biting 5-4 victory for SDI.