Barca rolls through 2009 Club World Cup tournament in UAE

By Khalil Hareb in Amman
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-12-26

[KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images] Barcelona (in orange) battles Argentina's Estudiantes in Abu Dhabi on December 19th. Barcelona won 2-1.

The Gulf countries got a taste of European-style football this week as Barcelona played in Abu Dhabi as part of the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) UAE 2009. The Catalan outfit beat Argentinean giants Estudiantes 2-1 in the CWC final on Saturday, December 19th.

Then Monday the Spanish stars joined the 45th anniversary celebrations of Kuwait's Kathmah team. The match didn't go quite as expected, because most of the Catalan stars were not on the pitch. In the end, the friendly reached a 1-1 draw in which both teams waited until the last 10 minutes to score.

As preparations continue for the World Cup, England announced plans to host Egypt for a friendly match in March 2010 in London's Wembley Stadium. The Pharaohs almost made it to the South Africa finals before losing 1-0 to Maghreb rivals Algeria in an infamous match in Khartoum. Last time Egypt and England met was the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when the Three Lions came away with a 1-0 victory.

Egyptian football fans cheered on powerhouse al-Ahly to yet another win on December 20th. The match was hard for the Red Devils,, who were playing away from home and on a rough pitch. Al-Ahly now has 35 points to hold first place and are trailed by rivals Petrojet with 29 points. Ismaily is third with 28 points.

Elsewhere in Egypt, the Zamalek saga continues. The White Knights won their third match in a row, beating al-Mansura 1-0 under the leadership of recently added couch Hussam Hassan. The match was headed for a draw until the last minute, when defender Amro al-Safti tapped in the winning goal. Fans of Zamalek, who are now in fifth place with 21 points, have been hoping to see Hassan bring the former champs back to their winning ways.

In Kuwait Basketball Association action, Kathmah lost 77-72 to Kuwait Club on December 20th. The two teams traded the lead back and forth throughout the match, until a scoring spree by Kuwait Club players in the last few minutes gave them the victory. The win brought Kuwait Club up to 12 points on the table and left Kathmah with nine. In another Kuwait hoops match-up, al-Jahra rolled over al-Araby 95-86.

In other sports, Egyptian Ramy Ashour won the 2009 Saudi International Squash Tournament 2009 in Khobar. Ashour sealed his victory by beating England's Nick Matthew 11/17, 7/11, 11/9, 11/9, 11/8 on December 18th. The final was one of the toughest matches in the whole tournament. Matthew knew was facing one of the best and gifted squash players in the world, but nevertheless gave his best. For his part, Ashour called the clash a "mental battle" that had been tough to win.

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