QSC’s Han Kook-young (right) celebrates his goal against Al Shahaniya in the Emir Cup yesterday. Picture: Noushad Thekkayil
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Radhi Shenaishil’s fears proved unfounded after Qatar Sports Club thrashed Shahaniya 4-1 to punch their ticket to the Emir Cup semi-finals yesterday.
Shahaniya’s performance in the preliminary rounds of the tournament had impressed QSC coach Shenaishil so much that he had termed them a dangerous side who could go all the way in the tournament.
But although Shahaniya made a spectacular start – Mehrdad Pooladi scoring with a powerful 35-yard free-kick in the 18th minute – there was no stopping QSC who just blew their rivals away, scoring thrice in the first half and adding one goal towards the end of the match.
QSC have had some glory years in the past but had fallen upon bad times in recent times although they managed to finish fourth in the Qatar Stars League and qualify for the Cup events.
Yesterday, they showed they have the potential to go the distance and potentially win the Emir Cup for the third time with a clinical performance at the Abdulla bin Khalifa Stadium.
Pooladi’s brilliant effort – the ball having swung away from the grasp of the diving QSC goalkeeper Mohamed Mubarak just in the nick of time – had given Shahaniya a platform but some horrible defending put paid to their attempt to cause another upset after having accounted for Al Kharataiyat and Al Gharafa earlier.
QSC hit back 10 minutes later to equalize with Abdulla al-Dayani benefiting from a clinical pass and scoring past Shahaniya goalkeeper Khalid al-Dosari from close.
Al Shahaniya hardly got a close look at the QSC goal after that as QSC dominated possession and looked like going ahead anytime.
And sure enough their second goal came in the 36th minute with South Korean Han Kook-young took advantage of weak clearance from Alvaro near the area and slotted past goalkeeper al-Dosari.
The defence was caught napping again four minutes later as Moosa al-Alaq was left unhindered several yards outside the penalty area and the midfielder pretty much struck from a solo effort.
Shahaniya managed to stonewall QSC for the better portion of the second half but that didn’t stop Han from scoring his second goal of the match.
Covering plenty of ground down the middle, Han met a Hamdi Harbaoui pass before shooting past al-Dosari in the 74th minute to complete the rout.
QSC coach Shenaishil had said at his pre-match press conference that Shahaniya play with a lot of planning, coordination and confidence and therefore had to be taken seriously.
Unfortunately none of the above-mentioned qualities were on show yesterday, allowing QSC to ease into the business end of the prestigious and lucrative tournament.
