JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia won the INAS World Football Championships in Sweden on Saturday for the fourth time in a row after beating Argentina 2-0 in the final.
The showdown of the competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities saw star man Abdullah Al-Dosari score twice as Saudi Arabia highlighted why they went into the match as favorites.
As soon as the captain got the first goal in the 24th minute there was only going to be one winner, he netted the second in the 81st minute to put the result beyond doubt.
Al-Dosari and Co. got to the final thanks to possibly their most impressive performance of the tournament, a 4-1 thrashing of France. Al-Dosari was once again the star in that match as he put on a captain’s display, leading by example, netting the first before Abdullah Adam, Ahmed Bouhlal and Omar Cassar completed the rout.
Argentina triumphed 4-2 on penalties in a dramatic semifinal clash with European champions Poland, to make the final but from the start of the final in Tingvalla IP they looked half a yard off the pace.
Saudi Arabia’s dominance of the sport started in 2006, when they beat the Netherlands after extra-time. Another victory over the Dutch followed four years later, before a 4-2 win against South Africa in 2014 and yesterday’s victory against the Argentines.
To participate in an INAS-FID event, an athlete must have an intellectual disability that was evident before the age of 18, significant limitations in adaptive behavior, and an IQ score below 75.
— Arab News (@arabnews) August 18, 2018
More to follow...