Al Rayyan skipper Rodrigo Tabata (centre) in action during his team’s match against Qatar SC yesterday. Picture: Noushad Thekkayil

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Al Rayyan have pulled off the biggest win in Qatar Stars League when they decimated Qatar Sports Club 9-0 at the Jassim bin Hamad stadium. Skipper Rodrigo Tabata scored four in this goal-scoring fest for Rayyan.
Qatar SC who have had a horrible start to the season must have known that it this would be a tough encounter but they wouldn’t have expected such a dire result.
Rayyan had already scored 25 goals so far in eight games and it didn’t take long for them to open the scoring in this game. Tabata latched onto a poor clearance and fired the ball inside the near post to score the opening goal in the 13th minute. And then one minute later Victor Caceres doubled the lead when his shot took a deflection off Qatar SC defender Mohamed Rabiei and went in.
Tabata scored his second through a great freekick in the 27th minute. The Qatari curled the ball over the wall into the far corner. Qatar SC goalkeeper Sami Hasawi initially went the wrong way and didn’t have enough time to shift direction and save it. Then four minutes later Sebastian Soria turned provider, crossing the ball into the centre where Sergio Garcia was present to calmly head it in. The roles were exchanged when Garcia crossed for Soria and the striker scored with a great left foot strike (43).
It was only the end of the first half and Qatar SC had already shipped in five goals. But their misery didn’t end there.
In the second half, Garcia scored his second (66’). The ball went into the far corner of the net but it looked like Garcia was trying to deliver a cross rather than score a goal. But he wasn’t complaining. Then it was the turn of Tabata to score his third goal of the match when he got to the end of a cross from Mohamed Alaeddin and headed the ball into the net (78’). Rayyan were 7-0 up and in no mood of slowing down.
There was nothing that Qatar SC could do to stop the goals and the next one came in the 86th minute. Garcia delivered a long cross into the box and an unmarked Tabata was able to head it in. That made it four goals in the match for the Rayyan skipper and he is now the player with the most number of goals this season (10).
Substitute Adbulmajid Anad, who had come on in the 72nd minute, scored the ninth goal.
The previous biggest margin of defeat in the QSL was Al Gharafa defeated Al Shamal 8-1, back in 2010. Rayyan have bettered that record and hapless Qatar SC will find their name in the record books for all the wrong reasons

Al Sadd 4-2 Al Kharaitiyat
Al Sadd were made to work by an attacking Al Kharaitiyat side as the eventually took all three points in a tough encounter at home. Before this match Al Sadd had won four of their last six matches and looked strong going into last night’s game.
The first goal of the night came from a corner as Xavi sent in a fizzing ball to the edge of the box and the unmarked defender Ibrahim Magid headed powerfully to put the Wolves into the lead (18’).
Kharaitiyat then started to penetrate more as they searched for an equaliser and eventually they got what they deserved. Anwar Diba’s freekick found Abdulla at the far post who headed the ball back across the face of goal for Kebe to poke just over the line with a scuffed volley (34’).
Then a minute later Kebe was at it again when he scored his second just a minute later! Al Sadd looked shell-shocked as the Burkinabe striker punished them once more. The goal was scored after an uncharacteristic error by Xavi whose pass was wayward. The Thunders exploited this with a quick break as the ball found Diba; the playmaker ran through the middle of the park before he laid off the ball beautifully for his teammate, Kebe to tuck away.
But all this was undone just before the stroke of half time when the Thunder’s gave away a penalty. Up stepped Wolves legend Khalfan Ibrahim and he coolly sent the keeper the wrong way to level up the match at two apiece (45+2’).
The second half saw Kharaitiyat fade badly as Sadd stepped up a gear, the Wolves scoring from yet another corner, delivered once more by Xavi. Left back A Hassan rose highest and put his side back in the lead (73’).
The final nail in the coffin for Kharaitiyat came in the 76th minute as Sadd scored again as they restored their two goal cushion. Xavi received the ball in the middle of Kharaitiyat’s half, close to the final third. He saw the unmarked Haydous running down the left wing and with a perfectly weighted ball, he put through the young Qatari who scored the best goal of the night with an elegant curling effort past Kharaitiyat keeper -Ahmed Sufiyan.

Lekhwiya 3-2 Al Khor
A sigh of relief will have been exhaled by Lekhwiya Head Coach Djamel Belmadi tonight as his team have finally managed to get a win under their belts after five losses and a draw. The defending champions defeated Al Khor 3-2 at Qatar Sports Club stadium.
But at the end of the first half, things didn’t look that pleasant for Lekhwiya. Nam Tae-Hee had missed a penalty in the 35th minute, and then in the 42nd minute it was the turn of Lekhwiya to concede a penalty. Striker Julio Cesar made no mistake from the spot as Al Khor acquired a surprise lead against the defending champions.
The second half was a busy one with four goals scored in total. The first was the equaliser for Lekhwiya and came courtesy of Khalid Muftah who scored with a powerful left footed effort into the far corner of the net.  
But then just when it looked like Lekhwiya were wrestling control of the match, Khor went back into the lead when Cesar scored the second of his goals in the 57th minute.  
After that goal there was a lull in play. Both teams were looking for more goals and Khor, despite having the lead, didn’t park the bus. Lekhwiya were building a lot of attacks but were not penetrating in the final third. However, that changed with the quick feet of Vladimir Weiss. The Slovakian slalomed inside the box and crossed to an unmarked Nam Tae-Hee who made redeemed himself for his penalty miss earlier on by finding the back of the net this time (74’).
The winning goal came in the 88th minute. Luiz Martin Jr. ran down the right flank and crossed to Mohamed Muntari who was able to leap above Khor’s Naif Mubarak al-Buriki and head the ball into the net.