Al Ittihad have been crowned the 2010 AFC Cup champions after beating Al Qadsia 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at Jaber International Stadium today.

Hamad Al Enezi put Al Qadsia ahead in the first half but Taha Dyab equalised seven minutes after the break. Both sides lost a player in the closing stages with Talal Al Amer being shown his second yellow card in the 75th minute before Mohamad Al Hasan was dismissed for Al Ittihad in injury time.

Neither team were then able to break the deadlock in extra time, meaning penalties were needed. Firas Al Khatib and Fahed Al Ebrahim missed their spot-kicks while Al Ittihad converted all of theirs to win the title.

Al Qadsia attacked from the outset and although they had chances to score, it took until the 29th minute for them to take the lead when Hamad Al Enezi finished off a swift counter with a low drive beyond goalkeeper Khaled Al Haji Othman.

I'm happy to win this title. We achieved this after a lot of work and we put in a lot of effort.
Tita Valeriu, Al Ittihad coach

Bader Al Motowaa should have added a second before the break but instead Al Ittihad equalised in the 52nd minute when Dyab dispatched a fine free-kick into the back of the net.

Al Qadsia were reduced to ten men 15 minutes from time when Al Amer was shown a second yellow card, but were dominant in the closing stages and almost got the winner just before the end when Othman superbly denied Mesaed Nada.

Al Hasan was then shown a red card for a foul on Nada to even things up before the game went to extra time, where the two sides continued to cancel each other out. Consequently penalties were needed and Al Ittihad proved the more clinical to seal the title.

Al Ittihad coach Tita Valeriu hailed the battling spirit of his young players. "I'm happy to win this title. We achieved this after a lot of work and we put in a lot of effort," Valeriu said.

"We were without six first-team players and had to replace them with young players and I want to thank the players who put all their best in the game. I never thought of winning the title earlier because Al Qadsia are a big team and they were playing in front of a large number of fans. I want to thank the players as youth spirit won over the experience of Al Qadsia."

Al Qadsia coach Mohamad Ibrahim was unable to disguise his disappointment with the defeat, saying: "Unfortunately this is a big loss for Kuwaiti football as we were hoping that we could win the title. Al Ittihad won in the penalty shootout as the game was not meant to be for us and it was for them."