Sports

MADRID — Real Madrid’s passage to a third consecutive Champions League final after their 2-2 draw at home to Bayern Munich was described as being akin to a miracle in the media after they rode their luck for the third game running.

Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich’s catastrophic error, which led, to Karim Benzema’s second goal for Madrid in the semifinal second leg was termed “a gift” in the Barcelona-based media, who also highlighted a handball by Marcelo in the area which went unpunished right before halftime when the score was 1-1.

Ulreich had done an admirable job filling the gloves of the injured Manuel Neuer for most of the season but he is destined to be remembered for his catastrophic blunder.

“He won’t want to wake up tomorrow,” said former Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn on German television network ZDF.

Being described in the media as the worst goalkeeping error in the history of the Champions League.

“It’s a terrible thing for a player to live through,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

Just as they did in the first leg in Munich, where Real escaped with a 2-1 victory, Bayern took the lead at the Santiago Bernabeu through Joshua Kimmich.

However, the German champions failed to capitalise on their dominance and were beaten 4-3 on aggregate, knocked out by Madrid for the third time in four years.

Madrid, 15 points behind champions Barcelona in La Liga, will meet either AS Roma or Liverpool in the Champions League final on May 26, where they will be looking for a record-extending 13th European Cup triumph.

“This is how Madrid qualify,” howled Catalan daily Sport, adding that they had reached a third final in a row “with more refereeing help and a lot of luck”.

Fellow Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo called the decision not to penalise Marcelo “outrageous”, labelled Ulreich’s slip “an epic gaffe”, and describing Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas as their “lifesaver”.

French newspaper L’Equipe said simply: “Madrid walk on water”.

Bayern fired in 22 shots at the Bernabeu, hitting the target with half of them and had an additional nine attempts blocked while winning 11 corners and 60 per cent possession, prompting Madrid daily ABC to say Zinedine Zidane’s side “survived the German siege”.

However, Real midfielder Luka Modric shrugged off suggestions his side had been fortunate to make it through.

“There’s always some controversy. People are always trying to minimise our success, but we’re used to that,” said the Croatian.

Real had also sneaked through their quarter-final tie against Juventus 4-3 on aggregate, qualifying with the help of a hotly contested injury-time penalty. 

Unlike the aftermath of their second leg against the Italians, which was dominated by seething complaints from Juve captain Gianluigi Buffon and President Andre Agnelli, there were few gripes from Bayern about Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir.

“The referee did a good job, we didn’t lose because of him,” said Bayern forward Thomas Mueller. “Keylor Navas was outstanding and he saved Madrid on many occasions.”

Marcelo admitted that he was lucky to get away with blocking a shot from Kimmich with his hand.

“If I say it didn’t hit me [on the hand] I’d be lying, but football is like that,” said the Brazilian. 

“I don’t talk about referees, but it’s clear that sometimes they go in your favour and other times against you, but whatever happens, you have to play football.”

Madrid’s German midfielder Toni Kroos said his former side Bayern had played better but praised his team for their ruthless efficiency.

“They played great football and created a lot of chances. Perhaps Bayern did more than us, we were not the better team, but in both games we were more effective,” he said.

LeBron James scored 45 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers 105-101 in the decisive seventh game of their first-round play-off series Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers will visit the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

James, who hit 16 of 25 shots and 11 of 15 free throws, contributed nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

“I’m burnt right now,” he told reporters postgame. “I’m not thinking about Toronto right now until tomorrow. I’m ready to go home. Can we? I’m tired. I want to go home.”

Cleveland centre Tristan Thompson, making his first start of the series, delivered a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Love scored 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers, for the Cavs.

Cleveland point guard George Hill, who missed the previous three games with back spasms, did not play in the first half but scored 11 points in the final two quarters.

Victor Oladipo topped the Pacers with 30 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Point guard Darren Collison added 23 points for the Pacers, and forward Thaddeus Young had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“Nobody thought we were going to be here,” Oladipo said. “I feel like we’ve earned our respect from everyone.”

Oladipo’s driving layup cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 100-96 with 50.1 seconds remaining. James’ layup pushed the lead to 102-96. After an Oladipo miss, James hit two free throws with 23 seconds left to seal it.

The Pacers shot 45 per cent from the field while the Cavaliers hit 43.2 per cent. The Cavs had a 44-37 rebounding edge for the game.

After leading by 11 at halftime, Cleveland’s advantage was cut to 76-74 after three quarters. James, experiencing some cramping, had gone to the locker room with one minute left in the third quarter. He did not return until 8:04 was left in the fourth quarter with the Cavaliers leading 86-78.

“It felt like a Game 7,” James said. “It was like, your mind is thinking like, ‘OK, besides the two I played in the Finals, you start thinking like, is this it? Could this be it?’ That’s just human nature. And then the other side of my brain was like, ‘Let’s go make something happen. Let’s go, that’s what you here for. You’re here to make plays, you’re the leader.’”

Indiana used an 18-2 run to take a 61-58 lead in the third quarter. Bojan Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer gave the Pacers their first lead at 59-58 with 7:13 to go in the quarter.

James scored 26 points to propel the Cavaliers to a 54-43 halftime lead.

The Pacers sank 54.8 per cent from the field in the first half compared to 43.8 per cent for the Cavaliers. However, Indiana had eight turnovers while Cleveland had zero in the first half. The Cavs scored 10 points off those turnovers. Cleveland had an 11-2 edge in offensive rebounds, 24-17 in overall rebounds.

For the game, the Cavaliers had 12 turnovers, one more than the Pacers.

The Pacers used a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 35-31 in the second quarter before Cleveland rebuilt the advantage.

James hit all five of his shots in the first quarter to help Cleveland to a 31-19 advantage after the opening 12 minutes.

Thompson had six points and seven rebounds in 11 minutes in the first quarter to give the Cavs a lift.

Rockets crush Jazz

James Harden scored a game-high 41 points, and the Houston Rockets turned a blistering first half into a 110-96 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday at Toyota Centre in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Harden converted 7 of 12 3-point attempts and added eight rebounds and seven assists to his line. After Utah sliced what was once a 27-point deficit to 11 early in the fourth quarter, Harden restored order with three free throws, a 3-pointer and a second-chance basket of his own miss.

Clint Capela recorded a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds while PJ Tucker chipped in 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Chris Paul tallied 17 points, six assists and four steals for the Rockets, who will host Game 2 on Wednesday night.

AMMAN — One point separates Wihdat from winning their 16th Jordan Professional Football League title, while five teams battle at the other end of the standings with only three rounds left in the competition.

Wihdat beat Aqaba 3-1 to maintain their lead and next play last-place Yarmouk, while Faisali trail in second place after they overcame Ahli 3-0 and next play Manshieh, who went up one spot and are in the relegation zone.

Jazira went up to third after they beat Yarmouk 4-0 and next play That Ras, who beat Ramtha 2-0 and went up to 6th ahead of Ahli who will play Hussein after the latter climbed a spot following their 1-0 win over Baqa’a.

Ramtha are fourth and have a chance to improve as they play Baqa’a next week, while Shabab Urdun who neat Manshieh 4-0 are fifth and next play Aqaba who are now eighth.

Reigning champs Faisali are in runner-up spot while Ramtha and Jazira have lost any chances for the title after Jazira led in earlier stages and Ramtha were among the top three most of the season.

Before the league resumed Jazira and Faisali played their 15th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup matches. In the last week of group stage matches, Faisali beat Lebanon’s Ansar 1-0 while Jazira beat Bahrain’s Malikieh 2-1 as the first stage ended with both Jordanian teams leading their groups. Jazira and Faisali will face off in the AFC Cup West Asia Zone semis on May 7 and 14 making sure one Jordanian will be in the zonal final of the second-tier Asian club competition.

So far this season, reigning league and Jordan Cup champions Faisali beat Jazira to win the 35th Jordan Super Cup. Wihdat beat Jazira to win the Jordan Football Association Shield. In the Jordan Cup, Jazira ousted Faisali while Shabab Urdun eliminated Wihdat to reach the final.

Last season, Faisali won their 33rd league title after a four year break and combined it with the Jordan Cup. Ahli beat reigning league champs Wihdat to win the Super Cup, Shabab Urdun beat Faisali to win their second Shield title after they first won in 2007. Sarih and Sahab were relegated and replaced by Aqaba and Yarmouk from the First Division.

BAKU — Lewis Hamilton celebrated one of the luckiest wins of his career on Sunday after a crash-strewn and chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix that catapulted him into the lead of the Formula One world championship.

The surprise victory, after teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered a puncture with three laps left while leading, ended a six race drought for the four times champion dating back to last October.

It was the first victory of the season for champions Mercedes.

In a race where the safety car again played a major part, with a series of crashes and smashes, Kimi Raikkonen finished second for Ferrari while Mexican Sergio Perez was third for Force India.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who had led the championship before Baku and looked to be on course for a 50th career win and third out of four this season, started on pole position but finished fourth.

Hamilton now has 70 points to Vettel's 66.

Red Bull's Australian Daniel Ricciardo, last year's winner in Baku and also in China two weekends ago, smashed into the back of teammate Max Verstappen in a lap 40 collision that ended the race for both of them.

"It was quite an emotional race. Valtteri did an exceptional job and deserved to win, Sebastian also did a great job so it feels a bit odd to be up here," commented Hamilton on the podium.

"Definitely an untidy race for me."

The Briton had started on the front row for the first time since he took pole in the Australian season-opener, but never looked like winning until Lady Luck removed both Vettel and Bottas from the equation.

"It was such a crazy race, such an exciting race… to come out with a win, I feel incredibly grateful," said Hamilton, who went to commiserate with Bottas after parking up his car at the finish.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz was fifth for Renault with Monegasque rookie Charles Leclerc sixth for Sauber, his first points in Formula One.

New Zealander Brendon Hartley was also celebrating his first point after taking 10th for Toro Rosso.

McLaren, who had their worst qualifying of the season on Saturday, ended up with a double points finish — Fernando Alonso seventh and Stoffel Vandoorne ninth.

Canadian teenager Lance Stroll, third in Baku last year, finished eighth to give struggling former champions Williams their first points of the year.

Only 13 cars finished the race.

DEAD SEA — Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah on Saturday was crowned champion of the opening round of the 2018 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, Jordan Rally in an event that witnessed a cancellation of Al Nakheel stage, the longest stage in the rally due to the weather conditions.

Attiyah and his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel clocked 1hr56min30.3sec in their Ford Fiesta R5 achieving an extraordinary feat by equaling Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s 12 victories at the Jordan Rally.

Czech Vojtech Štajf and co driver Markéta Skácelová settled in the second place after clocking 2hrs 04min 33.5sec in their Škoda Fabia R5 followed by Kuwait Meshari Al Thefiri and co driver Nasser Al Kuwair in the third place after clocking 2hrs06min 50.3sec in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Jordan’s Khaled Juma and co-driver Emad Juma finished fourth in 2hrs14min16.1sec in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Ahmed Shaban and co-driver Shadi Shaban came in fifth place (2hrs18min45.2sec) in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Attiyah’s win is his 67th in MERC, a record breaking victory.

“I think we did a clever race. I am happy with the performance and to equal the record of wins here is a nice feeling. We already have the record of winning the most number of Middle East rallies. We will try and get the new record for the Middle East Championships this year,” Attiyah, who also reigned the first day, said.

“The stages got firmer as the first day went on and dried and we were able to go quicker. We had no problems despite the weather conditions,” he added.

The Czech duo faced a puncture on the first day which led to a loss of time but managed to regain and settle in the second place overall.

“The priority is the Czech Championship for my sponsors and I always try and find some more rallies that are interesting. This rally was a part of the World Rally Championship and I heard great things about the stages. I could not believe that we did the race in temperatures of 37°C and sun and then the stage by the Jordan River was cancelled because of the bad weather,” Štajf said. 

“The first leg was very hard because we had never driven an R5 car in such harsh conditions. The pace notes were not perfect and I was not able to trust them. We had to play catch up but we are happy to finish second. It’s a good start to the MERC for us. On some events I would like to try and catch Nasser on some stages. He is a fast guy and a good measurement for me,” he added.

The Kuwaiti team competing in MERC 2 class were satisfied with the third spot:

“It has been a good rally, big gap, about five minutes. We start the second day in second overall. But the Czech driver was very fast. Third is a good start for me and a good step for the championship,” Thefiri said.

Despite Jordanian teams giving the rally all they had it was not enough but it opened the way for future participation.

 “We had a small problem and we had to change the plan to make sure that we finish the rally in fourth overall. We now lead the Jordan Championship. Maybe we will go to Kuwait and Qatar at the end of the year,” Juma said.

Friday’s competition was plagued with heavy rain in which Jordan Motorsports had to cancel the longest stage, Al Nakheel due to the slippery gravel conditions and while Attiyah cruised smoothly others had to face the challenge with the Czech duo losing over three minutes with a puncture in the fourth stage.

Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsports CEO said that the rally was an excellent event despite the weather.

“It was really a challenging rally and the rainy weather made it ever harder. We had to cancel the longest stage and work on the damage resulting from the rain. This was the first time the Jordan Rally was held as the opener for MERC,” he said.

MUNICH, Germany — Holders Real Madrid came from a goal down to snatch a precious 2-1 victory at wasteful Bayern Munich on Wednesday and carry a considerable advantage into their Champions League semifinal second leg in Spain.

Real, eyeing a third straight title, needed a 44th-minute equaliser by Marcelo against the run of play to cancel out Joshua Kimmich’s opener after Bayern, chasing three trophies this season, had missed a hatful of chances.

A quick break allowed Real substitute Marco Asensio to beat Sven Ulreich with a fine effort and grab the winner in the 57th minute.

There was more bad news for Bayern with Germany defender Jerome Boateng suffering a suspected adductor muscle injury that could rule him out for the final part of the season and the World Cup.

The result was identical to last year’s quarter-final first leg between the teams before Real won the return game, as well on the way to the first successful Champions League title defence.

“We are satisfied with the result but this does not count for much,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane told reporters. “You can never feel absolutely safe in football.

“We won tonight and I think we played well, we got a good result after a hard game.”

Liverpool crushed AS Roma 5-2 in the other semifinal first leg on Tuesday.

Bayern, who had lost only one of their last 22 home games in the competition, had only themselves to blame and were punished for their profligacy. 

They almost scored after 25 seconds when Real defender Dani Carvajal failed to clear properly in a furious and physical start to the match.

The hosts’ game plan seemed to go out the window after eight minutes with speedy winger Arjen Robben was forced off with an ankle injury.

They were undeterred by Real’s early tight pressing game, however, taking the lead when Kimmich slotted home after a superb through ball from former Real player James Rodriguez.

The Bavarians should have scored again even after another setback when Jerome Boateng went off with a thigh muscle injury, with chances falling to Franck Ribery, Mats Hummels and Thomas Mueller.

But it was Real who struck against the run of play with a low drive from Marcelo a minute before the break as the Brazilian full back added to his goals against Paris St Germain and Juventus in previous rounds.

The Spanish side, who have had a disappointing domestic campaign, then caught the Germans napping after a defensive blunder as Asensio raced clear to score their second goal.

“It was a curious game,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said. “We gifted Madrid two goals through our mistakes. We had really good chances and we did not use them. One should not be surprised that we lost.

“When you have that many chances and you don’t score then you cannot win.”

Bayern struggled to recover from the blow and despite having nearly 60 per cent of possession they could not find an equaliser.

The defeat snapped Heynckes’s 12-game winning streak in the competition stretching back to 2013.

DEAD SEA — Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah cruised to the fastest time of 1min 35.9sec through the 1.71km Vestel super special stage that kick-started the 2018 FIA Middle East Rally Championship on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan Thursday afternoon, according to the Jordan Rally Media Service.

The Ford Fiesta R5 driver is chasing a 14th regional title and a record-equalling 12th win in Jordan. He and French navigator Mathieu Baumel will take a lead of just 1.4 seconds over the Czech duo of Vojtach Stajf and Marketa Skacelová into the gravel stages on Friday after tackling the opening stage in torrential rain. The Skoda Fabia R5 crew are taking part in the Hashemite Kingdom for the first time. 

“This is only my second gravel rally after the Shiraz International in Iran last year,” said Štajf. “I was talking to Nasser there last year and he suggested that I take part in some rallies in the Middle East. I am a tarmac driver but I approached my sponsors and here we are. The goal is not to try and beat Nasser. The goal is to learn as much as I can and be as close to him as I can on these very difficult stages.”

Cars were flagged away from the ceremonial start podium by HRH Prince Feisal, chairman of Jordan Motorsport, in gloomy weather conditions, as dark storm clouds gathered menacingly in the Dead Sea area. 

Minutes earlier, Attiyah, Meshari Al Thefiri, Abdullah Al Ruwaihi, Vojtech Stajf, Ahmad Shaban and Asem Aref attended an official Question and Answer session with the media on the start podium. 

First blood in the competitive MERC 2 category fell to Kuwait’s Thefiri after the rain began to intensify as the stage progressed and was falling heavily with sporadic thunder and lightning for the later cars through the super special stage. Jordan’s Shaban finished the stage three seconds behind the Kuwaiti and Khaled Juma was a further 1.8 seconds adrift. 

Twenty-one-year old Omani Rawahi completed his first ever MERC stage in seventh position after stalling close to the stage finish. The rookie said: “We saw the stages on the recce and they are really amazing. The first one will be really tough tomorrow. We will have to take care. They are nice and flowing and beautiful in the mountains.

“This is a really good opportunity for me. The stages here are cleaner than Oman, where they are a bit rougher and more technical. My strategy is to finish the rally and keep the car safe. This is my first rally. I have been karting for about ten years and I decided to move into cars and rallying was the best option for me. I have very little experience of rallying at home but I will be learning a lot here.”

Lebanon’s Henry Kahy and Jordanian co-driver Musa Djiyerian got their regional rallying campaign in a Group A Skoda Fabia under way with the eighth quickest time.

Local driver Aref, co-driven by Faris Tal, guided his little two-wheel drive Renault Clio RX safely through the opener at the rear of the field.

Amir Tareq Al Taher, Zeid Miqdad, Salameh Al Gammaz and Raed Al Edwan are tackling the second round of the Jordan National Championship and additional points are available this weekend. 

Taher clocked the fastest time in the saturated opening super special stage to lead Gammaz by 12.6 seconds. Edwan left the track and rolled in the slippery conditions and lost over two and a half minutes.

On Friday, crews will tackle two runs through three special stages, commencing with the 19km of the Mahes test at 10:04am. Palms (30.2km) and the Baptism Site (11.7km) follow at 10:47ams and 11:45am, respectively. 

The three stages are repeated in the afternoon at 13.25pm, 14.03pm and 15.01pm after a return to the Dead Sea service area at lunchtime. 

AMMAN — Jordan Rally, the first round of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) kicks off on Thursday with an exciting super special stage at the shores of the Dead Sea as the roaring engines of 10 drivers from Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, France, Czech Republic and Jordan challenge one of the toughest rounds in the MERC.

The 36th edition of the Jordan Rally, April 26th –28th, will witness the serious attempts of Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah to match the former rally driver Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the current FIA vice president for sport in the Middle East and North Africa regions record for the most number of MERC wins in Jordan which reached 12 wins.

Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsports CEO told The Jordan Times that the event will carry a host of challenges.

“We have the elite of the elite taking part in the rally, MERC opener and we are expecting a very exciting event especially that the Rally consists of 15 stages including the super special stage which gets under way 2 kilometres on the shores of the Dead Sea on Thursday,” Naseef said.

“This is the first time, Jordan Rally is the MERC opener and this is what makes it so special and we have added two challenging stages: Qamar and Nakheel to make it more exciting and we hope that the rally will be accident free,” he added.

Drivers will face 234.20 competitive kilometres in a compact route of 504.27km.

“Drivers will pass through several demanding stages: Mahes [19km], Nakheel [30.30km] Baptism [11,68km], Sweimeh [11.74km] Rawda [12.69km] Qamar [8,11km] and Maeen [16.91km],” Naseef said.

“The rally has the support of HRH Prince Feisal who is making sure that everything is going according to the plans and strategy and we thank everyone who is placing all their effort into making such an event a very exciting one,” he added.

Five Jordanian drivers are taking part in the event Ahmad Shaban, Ihab Al Shorafa, Ameer Nassif, Asem Aref and Khaled Juma.

“Last year, we had to deal with an exhaust-related fire and a broken turbocharger for two and a half stages on the last day of the rally and this forced us to retire and miss a good opportunity,” Juma said.

“Well in the rallying world anything could happen and sometimes bad things happen but we always hope for the best and I think we have a good chance for a place at the podium,” he added. 

In addition to Attiyah, Kuwaiti Meshari Al Thefiri, Czech Vojtech Štajf, Lebanon’s Henry Kahy and Omani Abdullah Al Wawahi will be competing aggressively.

Attiyah has always said that Jordan Rally has a big spot in his heart stated earlier: “People talk about records and, yes, it is nice to win rallies and break records. But it’s not about that. It’s about enjoying the rallies and making sure that we give a good performance. I guess if you look at other championships we have won many more rallies and, of course, I still want to win in Jordan. I like the stages and the rally very much.”

The Jordan Rally will have a national competition along the main event.

“The second round of the Jordan National Rally Championship will be held with four Jordanians: Tareq Taher, Ziad Meqdad, Salameh Qamaz and Raed Edwan competing,” Naseef said.

Ahmed Shaban won the first round of the Jordan National Rally Championship after clocking 1h00m33s followed by Khaled Juma in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 (1h00m34s) and Salameh Qamaz in their Mitsubishi Evo 5 (1h02m17s).

“We wish all drivers all the best and the fans an enjoyable event,” he stated.

AMMAN — Jazira and Faisali will face off in the 15th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup West Asia Zone semis on May 7 and 14 making sure one Jordanian team will be in the zonal final of the second-tier Asian club competition.

The first stage ended with both Jordanian teams leading their groups as the top teams from each group, in addition to the best second placed moved to the semis. Iraqi Air Force Club will face Lebanon’s Ahed in the other semifinal following which the West Asia zone champ will face the winner from the rest of the Asian zones to decide the AFC Cup titlist with prize money set at $ 1.5 million for the champion. 

In the last week of group stage matches Faisali beat Lebanon’s Ansar 1-0 while Jazira beat Bahrain’s Malikieh 2-1.

Last year, Iraqi Air Force Club won the AFC Cup for the second year running. The competition was previously won three times by Jordanian teams: Faisali in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007. Other Jordanian teams that competed are Wihdat, Jazira, Ramtha, Hussein and That Ras.

After Faisali finished runner-up to Tunisia’s Tarajji in the last edition of the Arab Clubs Championships including two wins over Egyptian veterans Ahli, the reigning Jordan Professional League and Jordan Cup champs were eliminated from the 2018 AFC Champions League play-off match and failed to reach the group stages of Asia’s elite club competition and settled to play the AFC Cup. Jordanian teams have never before made it past the ACL preliminary round. Wihdat were knocked out in 2017, 2016 and 2015, while Shabab Urdun were eliminated in 2014.

Locally, so far this season, Faisali beat Jazira to win the 35th Jordan Super Cup. Wihdat beat Jazira to win the Jordan Football Association Shield. In the Jordan Cup, Jazira ousted Faisali while Shabab Urdun eliminated Wihdat to reach the final. Wihdat lead the league so far.