By Mohamed Assed.
Tripoli, 27 June:
The Libyan Team held on to its chances . . .[restrict]of going through to the semi-finals of the Arab Cup when it finished it second game of Group B with a draw against Morocco on Tuesday. In a near-empty Abdullah-Alfaisal stadium in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, the game ended 0-0. Libya and Morocco are in second and first places respectively, with 4 points each. Morocco heads group B due to its goal advantage over the Libyans.
The Moroccan team won its first game of the tournament over Bahrain with a final score of 4-0, whereas the Libyans won their first game 3-1 when they played Yemen last week.
Tuesday’s match was refereed by Jamal Haymoudi from Algeria. As the game started, Libya took the initiative and attacked the Moroccan defence aggressively and heartily. As usual, the Libyan attackers were led by no other than the inimitable Ahmed Saad. Saad unleashed his dangerous runs and passes from the left side of the Moroccan defence during the first half as he fed strikers Faisal Mansour and Ahmed Husain with what can oly be described as clinical passes.
The Libyan team kept pressuring Morocco’s defense during most parts of the first half, but to no avail. Eric Gerets (Morocco’s coach) instructed his defense to rely on the offside trap to stop the Libyan attacks. The tactic was masterfully applied by Moroccan defender Ahmed Jahouh, who deservedly earned the title “Man of the Match” due to his defensive heroics against the Libyan attack, especially in the first half of the game. Libyan coach Abdulhafeed Arbich gave his directions to further pressure the Moroccans by ordering Libya’s right flank to join the attack in order to break up the stubborn Moroccan defense. By the end of the first half, the Moroccans were lucky not to concede as they successfully resisted the Libyan attacks.
During the second half, the game’s set-up did not change much. Libya kept attacking. This time, however, Morocco relied on the counter-attacks to crack Libya’s defence, hoping to score the opening goal of the match. The Moroccans relied on their speedy striker Abdulaadeem Khadrouf and on their impressive winger Rafeek Abdulsamad, who is known for his strong left shots, to build up their attacking display as the game grew on. However, theywere unable to break the deadlock as they failed to really destabilizs the Libyan defence which remained firm against Morocco’s offensive.
Morocco earned their first shot of the game when a successful long pass from the defence was impressively met by a Moroccan striker who fired a shot well blocked by Libyan goalkeeper Ahmed Nashnoush in the 68th minute. After that, in the last 25 minutes of the match, Morocco kept pressuring Libya’s defence belligerently. Yet, all the Moroccan opportunities to move foreward and score were unsuccessful, frustrated as they were by a strong Libyan defence. In fact, the Moroccan strikers wasted their chances.
As the game neared the final whistle, both teams appeared content to earni one point, so they played a rather monotonous set of passes, waiting for the end of the game.
Libya plays its final game of the group against Bahrain. It it wins it will gain three points, and most importantly a ticket to the semi-finals. Morocco faces Yemen in its last game of the group matches. [/restrict]
