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There was no happy ending after for Al Rayyan as they were relegated from the Qatar Stars League (QSL) yesterday despite defeating Muaither 4-2. Al Rayyan did their part by winning their last game, but Qatar Sports Club, who were expected to lose, considering they were playing the QSL champions Lekhwiya, tore up the script with a shocking 5-0 win to send the Lions to the unglamorous second division. |
And that win meant that Qatar SC leapt to safety finishing the season in the 10th position while Rayyan remained in the 13th position and will now have to endure a season in the second tier. Rayyan in fact finished equal on points with Al Kharaitiyat and even shared a similar win-loss record (W7, D8, L11). But it was their goal difference (-6) as compared to Kharaitiyat (-3) that cost them the season.
Al Sadd, who defeated Kharaitiyat 3-0 yesterday, managed to finish the season in third place and thus qualify for the AFC Champions League. El Jaish shared a goalless draw with Al Khor which helped them finish in second place. Al Sailiya drew 0-0 with Al Ahli and finished the season in fourth spot which sees them qualify for the Qatar Cup.
For Rayyan it is a sad day indeed as they have been relegated from the QSL for the first time in 26 years. The seven-time league champions had a strong game yesterday against Muaither who are the other team who have been relegated. The entire match was largely restricted to Muaither’s half. Rayyan players showed their keenness to get on top of things right from the word go. In fact for the first 20 minutes, there was hardly a time when the ball ventured into the Rayyan half.
This constant pressure saw Rayyan get a goal in the 38th minute when Yakubu Aiyegbeni headed down the cross to Kalu Uche who made no mistake and put in the back of the net. But just when it looked like the deadlock was broken and that Rayyan would get more goals, Muaither scored two minutes later through a penalty.
Rayyan’s Yong-Hyung Cho clumsily hacked at the legs of Rodrigo da Costa and the referee has no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Ayoub al-Wadrasi stepped up to take the penalty and calmly slotted it into the right corner with the Rayyan goalkeeper Saud Abdulla going the wrong way.
While it seemed like a costly goal to concede, Rayyan were energised when Tahir Zakariya got his head to a lobbed freekick from Lucho González and put it past the charging Muaither keeper into the net. Rayyan went into the break with the lead. But that is when the news would have come in of Qatar SC having taken a shock 3-0 lead against Lekhwiya.
That was least expected. The last time these two clubs had met, Lekhwiya had defeated Qatar SC 4-2 but this time there was a difference. Lekhwiya were already champions and needed to rest their players for their upcoming AFC Champions League fixture next week, while Qatar SC were fighting for survival. And it was the determination of the Qatar SC players to not get relegated that came out on top.
Qatar SC finished with a 5-0 drubbing of Lekhwiya, a result that no one would have predicted. Rayyan tried their best to reduce their negative goal difference but a GD of -8 was always going to be too big a hurdle to overcome, especially in one match.
Rayyan now have to rebuild their team and gain promotion into the QSL in the 2015-16 tournament while Qatar SC will be jubilant that they managed to save their season by producing an incredible result right when it mattered the most.
