Al Merrikh equalizes with Al Hilal

CAIRO –25 July 2017: Al Merrikh SC from Sudan tied 1-1 with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal FC in the last game of the first round of the group stage of the Arab Championship held in Egypt.

Nasser Al Dossary opened the score for Al Hilal in the 26th minute of the game, but Bakry Abdul Qader had another opinion as he scored the equalizing goal for the Sudanese team in the 70th minute of the game to end the match with a draw.

In the same group (group C) the Tunisian Espérance Sportive succeeded to gain its first three points after defeating the Iraqi Naft Al-Wasat SC by one clean goal scored by Taha Yassine Khenissi in the 83rd minute of the game.

The match’s referee cancelled a goal from the Iraqi side, noting it was offside. Naft Al Wasat midfielder Saleh Sadir said on press statements after the game, “Espérance Sportive is a big and great team but we were closer to the victory, but the referee was against us,” Super Kora reported.

After the end of group C matches Espérance Sportive leads the group with 3 points and Al Hilal and Al Merrikh are in second and third places, respectively, with one point each. Naft Al Wasat occupies the last place of the group with zero points.