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Lekhwiya suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Al Wakrah in the Sheikh Jassim Cup on Sunday, the second day of the season-opening tournament in Qatar. |
Despite dominating possession for most part of the game, Lekhwiya, the two-time Qatar Stars League champions, failed to convert their superiority into goals and went down to an 85th minute strike from Ahmed Rahmatullah. Lekhwiya fielded only a handful of their regulars with an eye on the more important fixtures later, including the AFC Champions League quarter-finals next month. Lekhwiya are the only Qatari team to go that far in the prestigious continental event.
However, they played with great intensity right from the start, displaying creativity and maturity, poor finishing proving their undoing. Captain Madjid Bougherra, their star Algerian defender, did a fine job marshaling his troops and advancing far up when the need arose and South Korean versatile midfielder Nam Tae-hee was his usual busy self, proving a pain for the Wakrah defence.
Bougherra and Nam were two of only a handful of Lekhwiya first team players who saw action on Sunday and the Korean especially was a constant threat for the Wakrah defenders. A 21st minute free-kick saw Nam firing the ball inches past the post as Lekhwiya piled on the pressure on Al Wakrah, who did a fine job defending their citadel.
Their Iranian striker Mohamed Reza Khalatbari and Khalid Muftah missed several chances in the second session, before Wakrah finished off the game with a fine strike from Rahmatullah off a rebound.
In other matches on Sunday, Al Khor defeated Mesaimeer 3-0 and Umm Salal thrashed Al Ahli by the same margin.
