It was a day of upsets in the Emir Cup quarterfinals yesterday. First, Lekhwiya were knocked out by Al Ahli and then it was the turn of El Jaish to be shown the door.

The Qatar Cup champions lost 8-9 on penalties to a resilient Al Gharafa side. In the Qatar Cup, Jaish had been able to hold their nerve to emerge victorious in the penalty shootout but in yesterday’s clash they found a team who were up to the task.

This loss by Jaish means that the top two teams of the Qatar Stars League have been knocked out. In other matches, Al Sadd defeated Al Arabi 2-0 after both sides failed to score in regulation time, while Al Sailiya got the better of Al Khor 8-7 in the penalty shootout after they were tied at 2-2. 

As for Jaish, they will be ruing missing a great chance to add to their silverware this season. With Lekhwiya having lost earlier in the day, Jaish had the strongest chance to end up as Emir Cup champions. But if only matches were decided on the prowess of the team.

Jaish players looked sluggish from the start. This was their first match in this competition and the lack of game time seemed to be showing on them. In the first half, it was Gharafa who were taking the game to their more favoured opponents. They had a couple of clear chances with Lisandro Lopez even hitting the post early in the half.

The second half saw the Jaish players coming into the game. A ‘hair-dryer’ talk from coach Nabil Maaloul seemed to have occurred during the break. After an initial period of domination the game settled into an even contest with Gharafa edging ahead in terms of the quality of chances they were creating. Malooul tried to shake up things by bringing on their star striker Mohamed Muntari in the 58th minute but Jaish couldn’t get their game into a higher gear. Nilmar was the most industrious of the Jaish players and got a couple of chances that the Gharafa keeper Qassim Burhan saved.

With the match finishing goalless after the final whistle, it was time for the result to be decided through the penalty shootout according to the Emir Cup regulations. With Jaish having beaten Lekhwiya in the Qatar Cup final in a penalty shootout, they seemed to have the upper hand. But Gharafa were not ready to give in and both teams found the back of the net seven times each.

Then Gharafa’s Meshal Mubarak had his weak shot easily saved by Jaish keeper Ahmed Sufyan. Jaish’s Rami Fayez could have won it for his team but his shot was saved by Burhan. Then there was some drama. Hamed Shami scored for Gharafa. But though Burhan saved from Abdulrahman Issa, the referee asked for the kick to be retaken because he adjudged that Burhan had left the line before the shot was taken. And Issa scored on the retake.

With the score back on par, both teams scored one more each after which it was the turn of the goalkeepers to take the shot. But while the Gharafa keeper calmly slotted the ball into the net, Sufyan’s shot was easily saved by Burhan. Cue wild celebrations from the Gharafa players and the Jaish team were left ruing their missed chances.