Saudi Arabia beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in World Cup qualifier
First Published: Mar 31, 2004
Talal Saeed Al Meshal of the United Arab Emirates(UAE) vies for the ball against a Sri Lankan player during their World Cup, Asian Zone qualifying match at the Sugathadasa stadium in Colombo
A 53rd-minute strike by forward Ibrahim Al-Shahrani enabled Saudi Arabia to beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in a World Cup Asian Zone qualifying match. The Sri Lankans played a defensive game to restrict the goal margin but the match failed to see any great moments despite the presence of five players who were in Saudi Arabia's World Cup side.
Apart from the tight defence, Sri Lanka were also served well by goalkeeper Dammika Thilakaratne, who made some fine saves.
It was the second consecutive win for Saudi Arabia, who had beaten Indonesia 3-0 earlier in the four-team league.
Sri Lanka fell to their second successive loss after a 2-0 verdict against Turkmenistan.
Saudi Arabia take on Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka play Indonesia in the next round of matches on June 9.
All Content is Copyright © 2004 WorldSoccerNews.com and AFP. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable. 2004