Al Sadd players celebrate after they defeated Lekhwiya 2-1 thanks to a brace from midfielder Hassan al-Haydos in the Emir Cup semi-finals at the Jassim bin Hamad stadium yesterday. Pictures: Othman Iraqi
By Sports Reporter/Doha
An excellent second-half brace from the relentless Hassan al-Haydos helped Al Sadd defeat Lekhwiya in their Emir Cup semifinals yesterday and earn a berth in the final where they will face El Jaish.
In the match that was billed as the clash of the titans, Sadd have earned the bragging rights by defeating the Qatar Stars League and Qatar Cup champions Lekhwiya. This also takes Sadd one step closer to finishing this season with at least one trophy in the kitty since they finished second in the league and were knocked out of the Qatar Cup competition.
Lekhwiya didn’t seem to have the bite yesterday. Despite seeing a lot of ball they couldn’t create enough chances to trouble Sadd keeper Saad al-Sheeb. In fact he didn’t have to make a single notable save throughout the match.
The match, played at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, started with both teams looking scratchy. There was a lot of scampering about but neither team was able to create anything meaningful.
It took about ten minutes for the nerves to calm down and then the moves started coming from both teams. The game was played in an end to end fashion with both sides looking to get that early goal. But that didn’t happen. The first chance of the match did come early, in the 13th minute when Lekhwiya’s Sebastian Soria got a through ball from Ali Afif in the deep. But Soria couldn’t get his shot off in time and was eventually saved.
Sadd got their first chance of the match in the 25th minute. Lee Jung-soo, unmarked inside the box, got a good cross from a short corner but his header was very wide. After this attempt Sadd enjoyed a period of strong possession which saw them create quite a few chances. In the 29th minute Sadd got another corner and Nadir Belhadj dutifully delivered a great cross inside the box. Mohamed Kasola got a free header when the ball rebounded off a defender but it was headed over the bar.
But just a minute later, Sadd got their best chance of the first half. From a resulting freekick, Hamza Sanhaji headed the ball backwards onto the goal which needed Lekhwiya keeper Claude Amin to do a full stretch but he could only manage to push the ball onto the far post. The ball fell kindly for Almahdi Ali Mukhtar but the Sadd defender’s shot only ended up hitting the bar and going out, from five yards out!
Right at the end of the first half, Lekhwiya skipper Karim Boudiaf gave a great through pass to Ali Hassan Yahia but his first touch wasn’t that good enough and that allowed al-Sheeb to come out and collect safely.
The second half kick-started into life in the 59th minute. That’s when Laudrup produced a double substitution bringing on Vladimir Weiss and Ismail Mohamed. He needed quick legs on the wings and that’s what these two were good at. But despite Lekhwiya making the changes, it was Sadd who made the breakthrough.
In the 62nd minute, Muriqui gave a pass to an unmarked al-Haydos who fired in a ground shot into the far corner which Amin had no chance of saving. Sadd now had the lead they were searching for and Lekhwiya were also shaken out of their stupor. They brought in Luiz Junior to help the midfield play. But despite that it was still Sadd who were looking dangerous.
The Wolves had great chances in the 74th and 77th minute when Ali Assadalla twice got great through balls but the first time he couldn’t shoot in time and the second time his shot went over the bar. That was a big chance missed. But Sadd didn’t have to rue that missed chance because just five minutes later al-Haydos scored his second goal of the match to double Sadd’s advantage. It came off a freekick which al-Haydos took quickly and curled the ball into the far corner. It was a ball that Lekhwiya keeper Amin should have stopped but he was probably distracted by the onrushing Abdelkarim Hassan.
Lekhwiya tried to pile on the pressure but simply couldn’t find the back of the net. In the end Sadd emerged deserved victors. During the pre-match press conference, Sadd coach Ammouta had said that a team like Sadd always plays for titles and this was a great chance for them to win one. Now they are one step closer to that target while Lekhwiya’s dreams of a domestic treble have been shattered.