Video: Abdul-Ghani hat-trick sends Hodoud to semis

Harras Hodoud striker Ahmed Abdul-Ghani scored a remarkable hat-trick to help his team beat Masri 3-1 in Port Said and advance to the Egyptian Cup semi-final.

كتب : Amro Hassan

الأربعاء، 14 يناير 2009 - 20:26
Harras Hodoud striker Ahmed Abdul-Ghani scored a remarkable hat-trick to help his team beat Masri 3-1 in Port Said and advance to the Egyptian Cup semi-final.

Abdul-Ghani's goals came on 32, 96 and 102 minutes, while Masri's only strike was registered in the 93rd minute.

Hodoud were on top right from the start, as Tarek Al-Ashri's men were keen on netting an early goal.

Mohamed Mekki could have put his side in front, but the midfielder placed his free header straight at George Owu in the Masri goal.

Hodoud scored on 32 minutes when Ahmed Abdul-Ghani took full advantage of a free kick from outside the box, curling his effort in off the post and past the helpless Owu.

After the interval, Masri gave their all trying to level the score. However, the resilient Hodoud defense did well to abort most of their hosts' attacks.

While Hodoud were preparing to celebrate their win, Wagih Abdul-Azim sent the home fans into raptures by scraping an injury time equalizer to prolong the tie into extra-time.

In the 6th minute of extra-time Ahmed Hassan released Abdul-Ghani with a brilliant through pass and the international forward didn’t disappoint as he added his team's second.

After Hodoud's second, Masri seemed to have surrendered the game, and the visitors capitalized but notching a third.

Abdul-Ghani produced another deadly finish from the edge of the box to put the game beyond doubt and earn Hodoud a place in the semis.

Hodoud will now face the winner of Olympic and Asyut Petroleum, who will meet on Thursday.

Watch the game's goals: