Saturday, the 26th of December 2020, 4.05 pm local time (2.05 pm UTC), Fouad Chehab Stadium, Jounieh, Lebanon, the 10th round (second to last of the regular season) of the Lebanese Premier League.
Ansar, fighting to become champions again after a long time, started as big favorites in this game, and succeeded to win quite clearly, 3-0, although the score is exaggerated in relation to the game. Despite losing, Bourj played well, even better than in the previous round, when they drew 0-0 to Tadamon Sour. However, they started like a small team, rather defending than attacking, although they needed to win due to the 2-1 win by Safa over Shabab El Bourj in another match which had just ended.
It was not long before Ansar got their first penalty: Karim Darwich protected the ball inside the box while Mohamad Al Faour tackled him and Ansar player fell to the ground. The penalty was transformed impeccably by Hassan Maatouk: 0-1 (18'). Ansar had a few more shots from the left side, either saved by Abdel Karim Saleh or missing the target, but Bourj slowly balanced the game. At the end of the first half, Bourj had two consecutive chances to equalize. First, goalkeeper Assad mishandled the ball after cross by Hamza Abboud, but Mohamad Al Faour's shot was deflected out (41'). Then, an xcellent run on the right by Zein Farran ended with a perfect pass back to Hussein Al Outa, whose shot from inside the area hit the crossbar (43').
In the second half, Bourj had most of the initiative but did not find the way to score the equalizer. Mohamad Nasser appeared to be clearly fouled inside the box, but the referee did not award a penalty for Bourj (59'). However, he did award a second penalty for Ansar, after another tackle by Mohamad Al Faour on Hassan Maatouk within the area. This time, Hassan Maatouk's execution was less perfect, low and to the center, but the goalkeeper went to his left and the ball went in: 0-2 (75'). It was pretty much the end of the story after this, but not long after, Khodor Hallak this time clearly prevented Karim Darwich's action in the area, and the referee had no choice but to give a third penalty. Again, Hassan Maatouk was in charge, but this third penalty was poorly executed and the goalkeeper guessed the direction and even touched the ball, which went in nevertheless: 0-3 (78').
Bourj: Abdel Al Karim Saleh - Hamza Abboud, Khodor Hallak, Ahmad Al Khatib, Walid Ismail - Hassan Al Annan, Mohammad Al Faour - Zein Al Abidin Farran, Mohamad Kassem (Fadel Antar 75'), Hussein Al Outa - Mohamad Nasser. Manager: Fouad Hijazi.
Ansar: Nazih Assad - Youssef Anbar, Mootaz Al Jounaidi, Hussein Al Dor (Hassan Bitar 78') - Nassar Nassar, Nader Matar, Jihad Ayoub (Bilal Majdi 78'), Hassan Cheaito "Moni" (Abbas Atwi 75'), Mohamad Hbous (Ahmad Hijazi 75') - Karim Darwich, Hassan Maatouk (Hassan Cheaito "Shib Riku" 86'). Manager: Abdel Al Wahab Abou Al Heil.
Referee: Hadi Salemi.
Yellow cards: Mohamad Kassem 18', Mohamad Al Faour 75', Khodor Hallak 78' - Mootaz Al Jounaidi 41', Jihad Ayoub 64'.
One surprising thing regarding Bourj is that they made only one substitution (out of the five allowed) and that some more experienced players stayed on the bench, while several youngsters played the entire game, which somehow seems to be in relation to the rules regarding the use of young players, and the total number of minutes they need to play throughout the whole season, and one may guess that they did not play enough in previous games, so they had to "recover" those minutes in this match.
MTV Sports broadcasted the game, on TV, YouTube and Facebook.
This defeat pretty much ends Bourj hopes of accessing the play-offs of the Lebanese Premier League, although they started the season as one of the favorites to a spot among the top six. They still have theoretical chances, meaning that they have to win their last game against Shabab Al-Ghazieh and to hope that neither Safa nor AC Tripoli win. While AC Tripoli have small chances against Al Ahed, Safa would most likely win their encounter against last classified Salam Zgharta.
Bourj therefore have to prepare for the play-out and to rethink the strategy for the next season, while trying to make the most out of this season, which has been disappointing so far.
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