Young ASPIRE goalkeeper Saad Abdullah al-Sheeb underlined his burgeoning talent with a point saving display in Qatar’s Under-23 team’s opening round 1-1 draw with UAE at the sixth Friendship Cup, an International tournament being held in Doha this month, following that up with two clean sheets in the remaining group games to help propel the hosts to the semi-finals.
Al-Sheeb helped earn a 0-0 draw when Qatar met much fancied Japan, producing another shut out when the hosts took all three points in a 1-0 win over South Africa.
In Qatar’s opening game of a tournament that also features teams from Egypt, Belarus and Bahrain, at Qatar Sports Club, 17-year-old al-Sheeb proved his worth as, despite seeing the opposition reduced to ten men in a second half Qatar dominated, his team still needed him to be fully alert late on.
At the end of a difficult first half for the home team al-Sheeb pulled off a fantastic save from a penalty to ensure the teams went into the break on level terms, after Mohammed Saeed al-Shehi’s 14th minute opener had been cancelled out by UAE’s Ali Hassan. And late in the second period, in which al-Sheeb was arguably Qatar’s stand out performer, the youngster produced an impressive double save; turning a deflected shot over his cross bar before blocking a point blank header from the resulting corner.
In the second game al-Sheeb marshalled a defence that kept a deserved clean sheet against Japan. In a game that was dominated by the midfield of both teams and rarely threw up clear goalscoring opportunities, al-Sheeb had to draw on his levels of concentration, being largely a spectator for much of the game.
In their final group game, Qatar proved too strong for South Africa with al-Sheeb again refusing to be beaten.
“Saad is a very promising young goalkeeper,” says Head Football Coach at ASPIRE, Michael Browne. “The next few years of his development are very important. If he can get the right amount of games at a strong level then he can go on and become a very good player.
“He is still very young but is good enough that he needs to be playing against men in first team football on a regular basis.”
Al-Sheeb plays his club football for Al Saad but is behind a number of experienced goalkeepers at the reigning champions and league leaders, starting only a handful of games so far this term.
About ASPIRE
ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports Excellence, Doha, was created with the dual aims of identifying and transforming promising student athletes into world renowned champions across a wide range of sports and to act as a beacon to draw sporting culture into the centre of life in Qatar and the surrounding region.
The Academy is distinguished by a philosophy which aims to develop the whole student, providing them with full academic, social and sporting development.
Unrivalled facilities mark the Academy out as one of the world’s foremost sporting and educational institutions, and entice an ever increasing number of visitors from across the spectrum of world sports to use or simply view them. These same facilities will also play host to events during the forthcoming Asian Games 2006.
With one indoor and seven outdoor football pitches, athletics tracks, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving pool, combat arenas, gymnastics arena, specially designed weight rooms, lecture halls, dormitories to accommodate what will eventually become 1,000 students, a medical centre and more besides, much beneath the world’s largest purpose built indoor sports dome, every aspect of the development of elite athletes is catered for. ASPIRE is a place for those who dare to dream.
ASPIRE TODAY, INSPIRE TOMORROW
www.aspire.qa
