Al Kharaitiyat’s Abdulla Abdulrahman Albatat (right) scored the winner for his team against Al Rayyan in yesterday’s Emir Cup match. Picture: Anas al-Samaraee
By Sports Reporter/Doha
This football season has just gone from bad to worse for Al Rayyan. They were relegated from the Qatar Stars League this season and yesterday they were knocked out of the Emir Cup by Al Kharaitiyat. Rayyan suffered a 1-0 loss to Kharaitiyat despite dominating the game and ending up with a possession share of 61 per cent.
The man of the match award went to Kharaitiyat goalkeeper Khalifa Ndiaye who ended up making eight saves, four of which were certain goals. Rayyan will rue their numerous missed chances as they suffer a premature exit from a tournament which was their last chance for silverware this season.
They started the game well and were controlling the ball right from the start. By the 30th minute mark, they were already enjoying 60 per cent of the possession and were looking very threatening. Their opponents were chasing the game. But then in the 38th minute, things turned around dramatically.
Rayyan failed to take advantage of a free-kick close to the Kharaitiyat box and the resulting long-ball clearance found Yihya Kebbi on the left flank. Kebbi ran with the ball and then passed to the centre with the outside of his boot where Abdulla Abdulrahman Albatat had timed to run to perfection and he chipped the ball over the charging Rayyan goalkeeper. This goal came against the run of play and was a shock for the Rayyan players.
But Rayyan coach Manuel Jimenez was seen urging his players to keep up the tempo. In the 40th minute Kalu Uche took advantage of a rebound from a free-kick and fired in his shot but Kharaitiyat goalkeeper Ndiaye made a sharp save to his right.
In the 47th minute Ndiaye gifted Rayyan a free-kick right at the edge of the box after he handled the ball outside his area. But then he redeemed himself with a great save from the free-kick.
Rayyan exploded out of the blocks in the second half and it would be fair to say that Kharaitiyat didn’t get to see the ball for large portions of this half. But though Rayyan players were launching wave after wave of attack, they simply couldn’t get past Ndiaye.
Rayyan had a goal disallowed in the 56th minute when Mousa Haroun Awdowah headed from a mishit by Yakubu Ayegbeni. But the linesman ruled it offside.
After this the match assumed a straightforward script. Rayyan would bring the ball into Kharaitiyat’s box but would fail to score – either due to Ndiaye making a save or their strikers wasting the opportunity. In the final 20 minutes, Kharaitiyat were able to get the ball into the Rayyan half only once. Such was the period of dominance that Rayyan enjoyed. But in the end it all came to nothing. Rayyan had 9 shots on target as compared to the single goal-scoring shot on target that their opponents had. But that was enough to send Rayyan packing out of the Emir Cup.
In the other matches, newly promoted side Al Shamal got a taste of how life will be in the premier league when they lost 1-5 to Qatar Stars League side Al Khor. Qatar SC beat Al Muaither 4-0 while Al Wakrah beat Al Markhiya 4-1. This set of results mean that no team from the lower division has managed to go past the second round.
