El Jaish captain Wesam Rizk celebrates with the Qatar Cup after his team beat Lekhwiya in the final at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday. Pictures: Noushad T. and Anas Khalid. RIGHT: El Jaish coach Nabil Maaloul gestures during the final. At bottom, an exciting moment from the match.
By Joe Koraith/Doha
In the end it all came down to who kept their wits about them. Deciding a match through a penalty shootout can be unsettling, but El Jaish held their nerve to beat Lekhwiya 4-3 and clinch the Qatar Cup in a thrilling final at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium last night. There was no extra-time in the tournament and the tie-breaker was ordered after the teams finished 1-1 at regulation.
The Lekhwiya players were left clutching their heads after losing what was a closely contested final. These scenes were in contrast to the semi-final where it was Lekhwiya who were celebrating after defeating Al Sailiya in the penalty shootout. But yesterday wasn’t their day.
The penalty shootout started with Lekhwiya’s Nam Tae-Hee finding the back of the net. For Jaish, Wagner Renan was able to level the score despite Lekhwiya keeper Amin Claude getting a hand to it. Next up for Lekhwiya was Luiz Martin Jr and his shot hit the post. But the Jaish camp celebration was short-lived after Jires Kembo-Ekoko too hit the post.
With the scores level, Lekhwiya skipper Madjid Bougherra stepped up and converted the penalty with ease. For Jaish Ko Seoul-Ki too slotted it in. Karim Boudiaf was then the culprit for Lekhwiya as he shot over the bar. For Jaish, Wesam Rizk scored to give them the lead. Youssef Msekni then calmly sent the Jaish keeper Saoud al-Khater the wrong way and found the back of the net.
Claude, who had saved two shots in the semi-final shootout, then put Lekhwiya on par after he pulled off a brilliant save off Majed Mohammed’s shot. But then Adel Ahmed shot over the bar for Lekhwiya to hand back the advantage.
Ali Sanad stepped up and his powerful left-foot strike to the right corner gave Claude no chance and the Jaish players broke into wild celebrations. Jaish coach Nabil Maaloul, who was on his knees for the last shot, immediately offered a prayer after Sanad scored.
Earlier in the match, it was an evenly contested with both teams having the chance to wrap it up without having to take it to penalties. It was Lekhwiya who started well off the blocks and should have taken the lead when they were awarded a penalty early in the first half.
Msekni was brought down by the Jaish keeper Ahmed Sufyan and Tae-hee stepped up but his shot hit the post. After the initial flutter of activity from Lekhwiya, Jaish started finding their rhythm and had a call for a penalty turned down. Kembo-Ekoko ran into the box and his shot hit Ahmed Yasser’s outstretched hand. But the referee ruled that as unintentional and waved play on.
It was Lekhwiya who eventually scored the first goal of the match in controversial circumstances. Vladimir Weiss ran into the Jaish box and then passed to Tae-hee whose pass was cleared by Abdulrahman Issa but the weak shot went only as far as Ismail Mohamed who sent in a perfect lob for Weiss to score with the header. The only problem was that Weiss was clearly offside. But the linesman couldn’t spot it and Lekhwiya had the lead in the 36th minute.
The match was largely settling into a midfield battle with both teams trying to keep the possession while trying to make inroads into the opposition’s final one-third.
And then in the 46th minute, Jaish striker Nilmar was brought down by Mohamed Musa at the edge of the box and a free kick was awarded. Kembo-Ekoko lifted the ball over the wall and curled it into the top left corner of the net to score a brilliant goal which saw Claude left completely stranded with the positioning. Such was the precision that Kembo-Ekoko’s shot went between two leaping Lekhwiya defenders.
The first chance of the second half came to Lekhwiya when a free kick in the 51st minute saw Msekni’s curling shot being tipped wide of the post by Sufyan. Weiss had another chance with a free kick in the 61st minute but his shot was over the ball.
The possession was 50 per cent for both teams at this point in the match and that reflected the exact state of affairs. Neither team could find the breakthrough despite a very close chances. Even substitutions didn’t do the trick.
And in fact, in the 92nd minute, Jaish coach Maaloul even substituted the goalkeeper in anticipation of the penalty shootout. Sufyan was replaced by al-Khater but that move didn’t really count for much since he didn’t end up making any saves. Lekhwiya players did the job for him by missing their chances.
