Fourth Stage: Salam holds on to the top, with Sagesse, Nejmeh, Tadamoun, & Bourj..
January 1, 2002

The Fourth stage of the Championship witnessed the scoring of 21 goals. Salam held on firmly to the top after defeating Safa [3-1], Tadamoun got over its loss to Safa [0-1] in the 3rd. stage, and defeated Homenmen [2-0], Nejmeh continued the resurrection and defeated Ahley Saida [3-0], Sagesse made a great come back from [2-3] deficit, and defeated Al-Ansar [4-3], Bourj defeated Ikhaa Ahley [1-0]. In the remaining matches, Shabab Sahel tied with Al-Ahed [1-1], Homentmen tied with Racing [1-1].
 

Salam holds on to the top after defeating Safa [3-1].. December 30, 2001


Salam Zgharta defeated Safa [3-1] in the match that took place on Sunday December 30, 2001 at 2:15 p.m., Safa stadium. The goals were scored by Rabih Othman [2', 93'], & Moussa Abou Baker [85'] for Salam, and Walid El-Miri [47'] for Safa.

Salam Holds on to the top in the climax match that gathered him with 2nd. place team Safa at his home side. Both teams excelled in physical fitness, and only the most dedicated side managed to grab the 3 points of the match. Salam focused their presence in the midfield through Simbakor Sissy, Abou Baker, and the others, and ran into the forward through Rabih Othman, & Wehbeh Eddwaihi. Safa failed to reach Salam target most of the time despite the continuous attempts, and consequently suffered their first loss of the season.

|MATCH CARD|
 

Tadamoun regain the melody of victory defeating Homenmen [2-0]..
December 30, 2001

Tadamoun Sour defeated Homenmen [2-0] in the match that took place on Sunday December 30, 2001 at 5:00 p.m., Beirut Municipality stadium. The match goals were scored by Nasrat El-Jamal [57', 73'].

Tadamoun restored its spirit wit the it management reconciliation and achieved a deserved [2-0] win over Homenmen. Tadamoun played a below average first, and lacked the proper connection among its lines. In the second half, injured midfielder Haidar Najem entered and added some energy to his line. The hero of the match was Nasrat El-Jamal who scored twice for his team, and missed a 3rd. goal. Homenmen, on the other side of the story, was not an easy opponent at all, and tried to equalize, and later reduce the score many times, but its lack of excellent striker led to undesirable consequences. Tadamoun enhanced its position on the table, and reentered the championship race.

|MATCH CARD|
 

Nejmeh continues the successful come back and overwhelm Ahley Saida [3-0]..
December 30, 2001

Nejmeh defeated Ahley Saida [3-0] in the match that took place on Sunday December 30, 2001 at 2:15 p.m., Beirut Sports City stadium. The match goals were scored by Errol McFarlane [17'], Terro Kehian [21'], & Abbas Atoui [68'].

Nejmeh dominated the match, and missed many opportunities over the 90 minutes that were able to bring a much larger victory over a much less experienced team. In the first half, Nejmeh were everything, defense, midfield, & offense. The 2 goals scored were enough to seal the victory. In the second half, Nejmeh Technical manager Omar Mizian entered Moussa Hojeij, & Jamal El-Hajj who showed good performance which promise the fans of enhanced team performance in the coming stages. In the second half, the Beiruti side slowed down, and turned into demonstration which allowed their Sidon guests to create serious danger on their target, and hit the post twice without being able to score. Nejmeh gained 3 points, and rose up the standings to 4th. place while Ahley fell to the last place.

|MATCH CARD|
 

Battle of the Greens sees Sagesse end up top.. December 29, 2001

A much awaited battle of the greens took place on Beirut’s Municipal stadium as a goal from veteran Vartan Ghazarian in the last few minutes separated the two sides in the weekend’s most important clash.  Indeed it was somewhat of a surprise since Sagesse had never claimed all three points before against Ansar.  T&T player Peter Prospar netted all Ansar’s goals through the prolific goal scorer's first hat trick of the season.  Despite this, Sagesse were not to be denied their continued unbeaten league record so far as they netted four past Ziad Al-Samad.  Prospar’s first goal was a penalty [27’], his second from a free-kick [50’], and third through another blast from just outside the box [60’] the last taking his side into the lead for the first time during the match.  Sagesse had been leading the game and then dropping a goal at each stage until going down 3-2 on the hour mark.  Mohammad Kassas headed in the first goal of the game [19’], Hassan Ayyoub then took the lead for Sagesse again through a penalty kick [33’], taking the lead into the break [2-1].  With only quarter of an hour left Sagesse were still [2-3] down though thanks to 2 great goals from Prospar.  Mohammad Kassas however leveled the game [77’] through his second and then Vartan headed in a three-pointer [88’] to end this historic clash with his name on top of the goal scorers table.  Sagesse temporarily topped the table with 10 points while Ansar despair with only half that to their name.

Written by: Bassam Mahfouz

|MATCH CARD|
 

Bourj defeats Ikhaa Ahley [1-0].. December 30, 2001

Bourj defeated Ikhaa Ahley [1-0] in the match that took place on Sunday December 30, 2001 at 2:15 p.m., Bourj Hammoud stadium. The match goal was scored by the Nigerian Darlington [19'].

Bourj continued its good performance in the recent periods, and added another 3 points to its record after defeated Ikhaa Ahley [1-0]. Bourj dominated the first half, and were able to score through their Nigerian import Darlington who is proving to be one of the successful foreign players this season. Ikhaa, on their part, are still in the middle of their technical crisis, the team is not able to score goals. The midfield, & the forward lines are heavy guests on the defense, and the goal keeper. For their bad luck, Ikhaa even failed to score a penalty kick through Artash Adamian gained a few minutes after the scoring of Bourj goal. Bourj are moving upward, Ikhaa should react very fast before the situation gets worse.

|MATCH CARD|
 

Al-Ahed claim third draw victims Shabab al Sahel.. December 29, 2001

Shabab Al Sahel were seconds away from claiming their 10^th point of the season and at least a temporary top spot position when they faced Al-Ahed in Beirut’s Sport City stadium.  Both sides remained undefeated as Al-Ahed claimed their third draw in a row.  It was actually Al-Ahed who played the better football during the first half despite conceding the goal to Sahel’s Iraqi Mohammad Majeed [31’] a header that had connected with a cross from Adnan Mohammad.  After having missed a golden opportunity to level the game for his side about twenty minutes previously Youssef Jawhari netted his fourth league goal [93’] from a desperate scramble in front of goal.  Al-Ahed showed that they can beat even a team near the top and if they can convert chances into goals then they can do really quite well this season.

Written by: Bassam Mahfouz

|MATCH CARD|
 

A point a piece to Homentmen and Racing.. December 29, 2001

Both sides came into the game with only a point from their last three encounters and gained another from this encounter in Bourj Hammoud.  Racing took the lead against the once great Armenian based side in a battle at the bottom.  In what was a well shot goal Hassan Khatoun claimed his first goal of the championship [39’].  However, RC Beirut had little time to celebrate as only minutes later a penalty was awarded to the home side after Ali Jubeili brought down Yugoslav Vladimir Vasivesic in the box as he was heading to surely level the score anyway.  However, the honor of scoring Homentmen's first league goal this season fell to the foot of Mahmoud Tahhan as he converted the kick with ease.  The game provided little else by way of entertainment but both sides can expect a long road attempting to snatch as many points as possible to keep them out of the 4-team relegation zone at the bottom!

Written by: Bassam Mahfouz

|MATCH CARD|