Bourj FC won the Bourj el-Barajneh derby, 2-0 over Shabab El Bourj

Bourj FC - Shabab El Bourj 2-0 (1-0)

Mohamad Al Faour 13', Abbas Awad (own goal) 53'

Monday, 3 January 2022, 2:15 pm local time (12:15 pm UTC), Amin Abdelnour Stadium, Bhamdoun (Aley), Lebanon, the 8th round of the Lebanese Premier League.

Bourj FC before the start of the game. Source: Bourj FC Facebook page

Bourj FC continued their excellent run with a much-desired win over local rivals Shabab El Bourj in the first official match of 2022. The game could have been more difficult, but they reached that level of maturity that allows an apparently simple win, by scoring early and maintaining an overall control of the match throughout its entirety.

The first goal came early, as a result of a set piece. Abou Baker Al Mel "Bako" executed a free kick from the right side, looking for the tall Khodor Hallak on the opposite side of the box, Hallak's header directed the ball towards the centre of the box, but it was cleared by a defender, right to Mohamad Al Faour, who, just outside the box and all alone, sent a wonderful shot to the upper corner: 1-0 (13'). Shabab El Bourj goalkeeper touched the ball but could not deflect it from its course.

The visitors tried to give a reply, but it was mainly Bourj FC which controlled the midfield thereafter, although there were few goal opportunities. Shabab El Bourj increased their attacks in the last quarter of an hour of the first half, missing good chances by means of Ali Al Moussawi (31' and 38').

Shabab El Bourj started the second half equally determined to equalize and had a good chance (47') but almost immediately Bourj FC could have increased their lead, but Abou Baker Al Mel, one on one with the goalkeeper, chose the wrong solution (49'). However, Bourj FC did score soon after. Hassan Mehanna had a good run on the left, passed to Abou Baker Al Mel in the box, who turned the ball to Hussein Al Outa's shot: Ahmed Taktok saved, but sent the ball exactly in Abbas Awad, from where it deflected inside the net: 2-0 (53').

Again, the visitors tried to give a reply, but their response was rather weak and Bourj FC continued to control the game extensively, even creating more and more chances on the counterattack, and Hassan Mehanna and Youssef Atriss had great opportunities to increase the lead even more. Shabab El Bourj intensified their attacks towards the end of the game, and had their biggest chance to score in stoppage time (90'+2') but missed.

Bourj FC: Hassan Moghnieh - Mohamad El Dor, Khodor Hallak, Hassan Bitar, Youssef Anbar - Hussein Ibrahim (Mohamad Kassem 90'+1'), Abbas Atwi "Onika" (Youssef Atriss 46'), Mohamad Al Faour (Ali Kharoubi 90'+5') - Abou Baker Al Mel, Hussein Al Outa (Hussein Ghanem 90'+1'), Hassan Mehanna (Ali Merkabaoui 80'). Manager: Fouad Hijazi.

Shabab El Bourj: Ahmed Taktouk - Ali Harb (Yasser Achour), Soltan Haidar (Ayman Abou Zion), Omar Arnaout, Ali Tawbe, Mehdi Tlays, Abbas Awad (Islam Suleiman), Hussein Awada, Mohamad Sibaii (Ahmad Obaid), Hassan Al Hajj (Hassan El Kadi), Ali Al Moussawi. Manager: Youssef Al Jawhari.

Referee: Mohamed Haddad.

Bourj FC players and staff celebrating after the game ended. Source: Bourj FC Facebook page.

Overall, it was another good game for Bourj FC, both in tactical and technical terms. One thing that might be discussed is the high number of yellow cards received by their players (Youssef Anbar, Mohamad Al Faour, Hassan Mehanna, Hassan Moghnieh, Abou Baker Al Mel, Youssef Atriss), at least half of them gratuitously for time wasting. The team is however in excellent form and this should continue for the remaining three rounds of the regular season. They have consolidated their fourth position in the table and need to think about closing the gap to the top 3 and not just classifying in the top 6 for the play-off, which seems to be almost accomplished. The next game will be against Al Akhaa Al Ahly Aley on Saturday, officially away, but practically at Amin Abdelnour Stadium, which is the home ground for both teams.

On the other hand, Shabab El Bourj still struggle in the lower half of the table, but have their chances to move up in the table. They will meet rather accessible opponents in the remaining three matches, two of them against newly-promoted teams, such as the next game, when they will face Hikma / Sagesse.

Full results, table and fixtures:

Round 8 (2-3 January 2022)

 

Tadamon Sour – Nejmeh 1-1

Al Akhaa Al Ahly Aley – Al Ahed 0-1

Hikma / Sagesse – AC Tripoli 0-3

Bourj – Shabab El Bourj 2-0

AC Sporting – Safa 3-0

Ansar – Shabab Sahel 2-3

 

Table

 

1	Al Ahed	8	6	2	0	12-2	20
2	Shabab Sahel	8	5	2	1	17-7	17
3	Nejmeh	8	4	4	0	12-3	16
4	Bourj	8	3	5	0	9-4	14
5	AC Tripoli	8	3	1	4	8-12	10
6	Hikma / Sagesse	8	3	0	5	7-15	9
7	Tadamon Sour	8	1	5	2	9-8	8
8	Ansar	8	2	2	4	9-9	8
9	Shabab El Bourj	8	2	2	4	7-12	8
10	AC Sporting	8	2	1	5	7-11	7
11	Al Akhaa Al Ahly Aley	8	2	1	5	6-10	7
12	Safa	8	1	3	4	3-13	6

 

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 9 (8-9 January 2022)

 

Shabab Sahel – Tadamon Sour

Al Akhaa Al Ahly Aley – Bourj

Al Ahed – Nejmeh

Shabab El Bourj – Hikma / Sagesse

AC Sporting – AC Tripoli

Ansar – Safa