Dubai 6-0: Ittihad Jeddah's Saudi swagger lights up a UAE friendly
10 December 2025
Match Recap
Conceicao made several changes at halftime.
Al-Ittihad Jeddah, the Saudi club, won its opening friendly in its Dubai training camp, routing Palm City, who play in the UAE's second division, 6-0 on Wednesday.
Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao started with a lineup mixing starters and reserves, as follows:
Goalkeeper: Bridar Raikovic
Defence: Ahmed Al-Jalidan, Carlo Simic, Ahmed Sharahiili, Hassan Kaddish
Midfield: N'Golo Kanté, Hamid Al-Ghamdi, Faisal Al-Ghamdi
Attack: Musa Diaby, Karim Benzema, Steven Berghuis
The Portuguese coach made several changes at the start of the second half, prompting the team to line up as follows:
Goalkeeper: Bridar Raikovic
Defence: Muhannad Al-Shenqiti, Danilo Pereira, Fabinho, Mario Mitai
Midfield: Awad Al-Nashri, Mohammed Flatah, Mamadou Doumbia
Attack: Roger Fernandes, Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, Houssam Aouar
Hamid Al-Ghamdi opened the scoring for Al-Ittihad in the second minute, before Roger Fernandes added the second in the 59th minute.
Houssam Aouar extended the lead with the third in the 65th, before Mario Mitai scored the fourth in the 81st.
Roger Fernandes added his second and the team's fifth in the 85th, before Muhannad Al-Shenqiti ended the scoring in the 87th.
Al-Ittihad will wrap up the camp with Gulf United, who play in UAE's first division, on Sunday.
Punchline 1: The defense was so porous that even a sieve would file a missing-person report for the ball.
Punchline 2: If this is a friendly, I want a season pass to the highlights reel.
