Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 3.30 pm local time (12.30 pm UTC), Saida International Stadium, Sidon (neutral ground), Lebanon, the 3rd round of the Lebanese Premier League - play-out stage.
Bourj FC players before the start of the game. Source: Bourj FC Facebook page
The match was important especially for Tadamon Sour, which could be saved from relegation with a win and a poor result of Shabab Al Ghazieh against Shabab El Bourj. Bourj FC have little to fight about in this play-out stage, except honour and to preserve their leading spot in the table of the bottom six teams in the Lebanese Premier League.
As a result, Tadamon Sour was the team which tried more to score and was not far from winning, although they had few chances. In the first half, they only had a couple of shots, one of them went really close above the crossbar (29'), others were either wide or saved by Bourj goalkeeper. Bourj FC maintained possession, but mostly in their own half, and rarely succeeded to get close to the opponents' goal.
In the second half, the pace of the game intensified. Tadamon was again the team more interested in breaking the deadlock, but Bourj defense resisted well, despite several good opportunities missed by Tadamon strikers. Bourj FC tried to benefit from the larger spaces left in Tadamon's defense by creating fast counterattacks, and especially Zein Al Abidin Farran had a couple of dangerous individual actions, one of them stopped inside the box (58'), which resulted in claims for a penalty. Nevertheless, Tadamon were closer in scoring the winning goal, and their pressure increased towards the end of the game, with no result on the score sheet. For Bourj, Mohamed Nasser really revitalized the attack in the last 20 minutes, when he was sent in, but again, without a goal.
Bourj: Abdel Karim Saleh - Hamza Abboud, Khodor Hallak, Ahmed Al Khatib, Walid Ismail - Mohamad Faour, Mohamad Kassem, Ibrahim Abou Hamdan - Zein Al Abidin Farran (Samih Damaj 71'), Fadel Antar (Mohamed Nasser 71'), Hussein Al Outa.
Tadamon: Mohamad Santina - Abbas Sharqawi, Kazem Atiyah, Hussein Muhaidli, Wael Youssef, Mohamad Dabouk, Bilal Al Sabbagh, Bilal Hajo, Zahir Al Samahi (Adnan Saloum 83'), Asaad Seblini (Hassan Hawila 46', Ibrahim Abou Jabal 83'), Ismail Hussein.
Referee: Mohamad Eis.
Yellow cards: Walid Ismail 65'.
Given that AC Tripoli and Shabab El Bourj both won, these two teams and Bourj FC are all tied at the top of the play-out stage table. Bourj FC will play both Shabab El Bourj (in a local derby, next round) and AC Tripoli in the remaining two rounds of the competition, and most likely these matches will establish the winners of the play-out stage (and the seventh place overall).
At the other end, Shabab Al Ghazieh's defeat brought them even closer to mathematical relegation. Tadamon Sour are now 5 points ahead of them with two rounds to go. In the next round, the issue of relegation might be solved for good if Tadamon Sour wins over AC Tripoli or if Shabab Al Ghazieh does not win against already relegated Salam Zgharta. In the case the issue is not solved, then everything will be decided in the last round, when the two teams will face each other.
Full results, play-out table and fixtures:
Round 3 (7 April 2021)
Salam Zgharta – AC Tripoli 2-3
Shabab Al-Ghazieh – Shabab El Bourj 1-2
Bourj – Tadamon Sour 0-0
Table
|
7 |
Shabab El Bourj |
14 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
17-13 |
19 |
|
|
8 |
Bourj |
14 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
16-12 |
19 |
|
|
9 |
AC Tripoli |
14 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
11-13 |
19 |
|
|
10 |
Tadamon Sour |
14 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
5-10 |
12 |
|
|
11 |
Shabab Al-Ghazieh |
14 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
8-25 |
7 |
Relegation to the Second Division |
|
12 |
Salam Zgharta |
14 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
6-43 |
1 |
Relegation to the Second Division |
If two or more teams have the same number of points, the results of head-to-head matches between them are the main ranking criteria.
Round 4 (11 April 2021)
Tadamon Sour – AC Tripoli
Shabab Al-Ghazieh – Salam Zgharta
Bourj – Shabab El Bourj
No comments:
Post a Comment