Eighth Stage: Goals fall down as Nejmeh, Sahel, & Sagesse hold on to the top spot with victories, Tadamoun smashes Racing with [7-0], Salam overcomes Bourj, & Ahed receives first loss thanks to rejuvenated Ikhaa while wounded Ansar falls in injury time to Safa [1-2]..
January 21, 2002
 

Nejmeh trounce Homenmen as expected.. January 19, 2002

Nejmeh snatched top spot off Shabab al Sahel, who had earlier that day claimed the position with the same result [4-1]. With Sagesse as the only team who has beaten them as of yet this season (by a narrow margin), Nejmeh’s supporters have a lot to celebrate after their easy win in Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City.

Notorious Moussa Hojeij opened the score line as he received a through ball that allowed him to brilliantly place the ball left of the keeper [28’]. Surprisingly enough it was the only goal of the first half as the two sides went into the break divided by only one goal. Nejmeh doubled the gap, before Homenmen could close it as T&T star Errol McFarlane took hardly any time blasting in Nejmeh’s second from outside the penalty box [48’]. Bernard al Shaar netted Homenmen’s conciliatory goal [62’] just after the hour mark as he lobbed the ball over a charging Abdo Tafeh. Abbas Atoui netted his fourth league goal of the season in the last tenth of the game following on from a long pass, and putting it past the keeper at close range [81’]. Errol couldn’t help but a final goal, his personal sixth this season when he had only the keeper to beat and he could do only one thing with the ball and that was place it in the back of the net [88’].

Nejmeh have three points in the bag in their next game against Bourj and that will give their opponents at the top a harder time to keep up at the top, especially considering the other two (Sahel and Sagesse) don’t have walk-in-the-park games coming up! What can be said of Homenmen? Well they are a team with a glorious history and an almost certain destiny … of playing in Lebanon’s second division next season that is!

Written by: Bassam Mahfouz

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Ahley crumble at hands of Sahel..
January 19, 2002

Shabab al Sahel temporarily toped the league as they put four past Ahley Sidon in Safa’s stadium. Relegation bound Ahley Sidon were able to level the game before crumbling after having left with only 10 men as they then conceded three further goals!

The surprise championship contenders took the lead just before the break, in injury time. Hussein Olleik placed his first goal of the game past keeper Mohammad Santina as he received a ball from the other side of the goalmouth [45’]. It took 10 minutes into the second half before the visitors would level the game after a long ball to Senegal striker Madeo Konati [55’] who chipped the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net. However, the turning point of the game came when Ahley’s Mustafa Fakih was shown the red card by the man in black Talaat Najem, having been shown the yellow less than 10 minutes earlier! Minutes later Hussein Olleik gave his side the lead once more as he made the most of a goalmouth scramble [65’]. Hussein Sweidan then curled in a fantastic header which stunned the helpless keeper [81’] to make it [3-1]. This was followed as Nigerian Othman Saleh ended the game when he wrong footed two Ahley defenders and then blasted past the keeper.

Shabab al Sahel face a tougher opponent next in the Safa on whose ground they were playing today, they could prove the surprise contenders for the championship a few weeks down the line.

Written by: Bassam Mahfouz

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Wounded Ansar falls down in last minute to Safa.. January 20, 2002

Safa defeated Al-Ansar [2-1] in the match that took place on Sunday January 20, 2002 at 4:45 p.m., Beirut Sports City stadium. The match goals were scored by Salmao Salhah [4'], & Abdullah Hommsi [90'] for Safa, & Jamal Taha [35'] for Al-Ansar.

Safa achieved another win, and added another victory in its records against its long time rival Al-Ansar. Meanwhile, Safa team failed to impress its fans, and provide a high performance benefiting from the weak situation Al-Ansar team is recently passing. On the contrary, the Greens provided an excellent performance over the 90 minutes with the midfield leadership of old time teammates Taha, & Nakid who mastered the midfield, and provided their much younger teammates with many passes that were wasted near Safa target. The major gap in the forward line was the absence of Attacker Peter Prospar, who suffered a hip injury during the last match against Ikhaa Ahley after which He was carried to Hospital, most of the opportunities are not used properly, and consequently are turning to the opposite of the team that is conceding goals in late time. Safa lethal goal came on the 90th. minute with a first time volley shot from Abdullah Hommsi that lobed above advancing Ziad el-Samad to convert the match 3 points to the favor of Safa.

This is the 2nd. loss in a row for Al-Ansar, and they should consider a come back very soon, the coming match is against Tadamoun Sour, a difficult task for the greens who lack suspended Malek Hassoun, and injured Peter Prospar, & Abbas Saleh in front of "well-equipped" team. As for Safa, its match is not that easy either against the top spot-partner Shabab Sahel.

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Tadamoun warns: My appetite is back.. January 20, 2002

Tadamoun Sour defeated Racing [7-0] in the match that took place on Sunday January 20, 2002 at 2:15 p.m., Sour stadium. The match goals were scored by: Faisal Antar [12'], Haitham Zein [18'], Haidar Najem [51'], Adham Ghaddar [73'], Youssef Baalbaki [74'], Ibrahim Manasri [88'], Nasrat el-Jamal [90'].

The result speaks for itself. An unbalanced confrontation between different measures. Tadamoun outplayed Racing and scored 7 times over the 90 minutes, and sent a warning to all the first divisions teams.

The sons of Sour dominated the whole match, and entertained their fans. The match goals were scored by 7 players, a sign of team spirit!

Racing on their part tried to reduce the score line as much as possible, but the attempt was not quite easy, and yet it would have been much heavier.

Tadamoun is set to face Al-Ansar in yet another unbalanced combat on Thursday, and Racing would move to Tripoli and face Salam Zgharta with another difficult task in front of Rabih Othman and friends.

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Gilberto brings Ahed’s undefeated run to an end.. January 19, 2002

Ikhaa Ahley Aley defeated Ahed [1-0] in Beirut’s Municipal Stadium breaking the Beirut sides undefeated streak. Ahed’s amazing run so far came to an inevitable end when they met rejuvenated Ikhaa Ahley Aley who are back on form.

Ikhaa back on form and on their way up have their own streak to be proud of. It is the fourth game on the trot that Aley’s favorite side have kept a clean sheet. The goal which came from international striker Gilberto Dos Santos [21’] was a great soaring header which met a long ball and couldn’t help but make the back of the net.

This could be a blip on Ahed’s excellent record so far this season, but Ikhaa are really proving themselves as the great team they have been only months ago. Their last four games, all victories have moved them off bottom to 6th spot. Their next game will really test their resilience as they face one of this year’s real title contenders La Sagesse.

Written by: Bassam Mahfouz

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Bourj falls with defensive errors to Salam [1-2].. January 20, 2002

Salam Zgharta defeated Bourj [2-1] in the match that took place on Sunday January 20, 2002 at 2:15 p.m., Beirut Municipality stadium. The match goals were scored by Rabih Othman [48' p.], & Wehbeh Eddwaihi [75'] for Salam, & Darlington [63' p.] for Bourj.

Salam added another victory to its records and joined the championship race with 15 points. Salam defeated Bourj with 2 goals scored by their forward player Rabih Othman & Wehbeh Eddwaihi who are doing quite well this season. Salam defense played a good match and helped carrying the match to the desirable end. As for Bourj, the team played a good match also, but suffered the serious decline in the performance of its defender Tshinido who committed many personal errors that caused much disturbance to its teammates. Despite carrying the team over its shoulder in the past stages, Tshinido proved over-confident, and with his bad use of the balls in his possession, He contributed to the loss. Darlington made good effort, other Bourj youngsters tried their best to do something, but the right post turned Fadl Essayed down in the late time to deny Bourj a quite fair draw.

Salam shall face Racing next week in a virtually a one sided battle, but the Racing players would try their best to gain at least one point from Tripoli back to Beirut. As for Bourj, the task is more difficult against Nejmeh, one of the main contenders for the championship title this season. Bourj should handle the defensive mistakes, and mark Nejmeh players in order to gain at least one point that would equal to a victory in front of thousands of Nejmeh fans.

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