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Kuwait''s SC wins AFC Cup after defeating Syria''s Al-Karamah 2-1

KUWAIT, Nov 3 (KUNA) -- Kuwait Sporting Club (SC) made a historic win on Tuesday after defeating Syria's Al-Karamah Club 2-1, clinching the sixth Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup 2009.
Kuwait's SC professional player from Oman Ismail Al-Ajmi scored the decisive goal from a header at stoppage time of the second half.
The match held in Kuwait's Stadium witnessed a huge attendance from the crowd, along with high ranking officials including AFC's President Mohammed Bin Hammam.
Kuwait's SC was leading the first half 1-0 by Hussain Hakim Al-Shammari who shot a long distance ball from foul-kick, hard-to-catch by Syrian Goalkeeper Mus'ab Balhous.
Half way through the second half, the Syrian team reorganized, made several counterattack plays and was able to equalize by Ahmed Adeeb at the 81st minute.
Overall the two teams showed a great performance and played a tough final match where equal opportunities wasted on both ends.
Prior to this achievement, the AFC said that in 12 games of the knockout stage, excluding the final, nearly 200,000 fans turned out to see games, averaging about 16,000 fans at each match.
The semi-final second-leg between Hong Kong's South China and Kuwait SC drew a record 38,000 fans to the Hong Kong Stadium, the most for any match in this tournament.
To reach the final, Kuwait beat Hong Kong's South China 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals while Al-Karamah defeated Vietnam's Becamex Binh Duong 4-2 over two legs.
The two sides met in the group stages with each winning their home game 2-1. (end) bsu.mb KUNA 032314 Nov 09NNNN