News
| Ittihad pay price for injury and red card Ittihad 2 Saprissa 3 | |
| Date: 12/16/2005 | |
| By: Al S |
A thunderous last-gasp free kick from substitute Ronald Gomez earned Costa Ricas Deportivo Saprissa a 3-2 win over Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia and third spot in the FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup Japan 2005.
Alvaro Saborio opened the scoring for Saprissa but Ittihad hit back with goals from Mohamed Kallon and a penalty from Joseph Desire-Job. Saborio struck the equaliser, also from the spot, before Gomezs rocket.
The Saudi Team controlled the game and came back to take the lead 2-1. Saudi Team dominated the 2nd half completely and looked likely to score the goal that would take them to claim the 3rd spot in the championship.
The last 15 min saw and injury to Rida Taker in defence of Ittihad , Misfer Al Qahtani a young replacement could not handle the pressure, and almost cause a penelty. But the Saudi Team conceeded that equalizer and lost the game in the last 2 min of the game.
First the Referee gave Saprisa a questionable Penelty kick, and moments later, Muntashiri got a red card as he obstructed a breakaway. A direct red card. The free kick resulting from that gave Saprissa a underserved victory.