Keita brace helps El Jaish down Al Ahli

A double by veteran Seydou Keita helped El Jaish ease to a convincing 2-0 win over Al Ahli in round 23 of the Qatar Stars League yesterday.
 Keita, who joined El Jaish at the beginning of the least season, scored once in each half to help El Jaish pick up full points from the game played at Lekhwiya Stadium.
 It was El Jaish’s 12th win of the season as coach Sabri Lamouchi’s side attempt to close gap on Al Sadd, Lekhwiya and Al Rayyan, the top three teams in QSL. Keita produced a spectacular curling free-kick to score his team’s first goal in the 20th minute. The 37-year-old fired one with his left-foot as the ball crashed into Al Ahli net.
 After a number of exchanges, both teams walked off the Lekhwiya Stadium pitch with 1-0 in favour of El Jaish, one of the most consistent sides in QSL.
 Keita, formerly of Barcelona, doubled his team’s lead in the 74th minute when he converted an easy penalty. Keita opted to go left of Al Ahli goalkeeper Amer al-Dosari for his side’s second goal.
 El Jaish’s Yousuf Muftah, Mohammed al-Yazidi and goal hero Keita were booked with yellow cards in the game. Al Ahli’s Ali Fereydoun was also booked in the game by referee Fahad al-Marri. The winning side made three substitutions in the game with Dami Terawari, Abdurahman Mohammed and Abdulqadir Ilyas also getting a run in the game.  Mohamed replaced El Jaish hero and skipper Keita in the 84th minute. Younes Ali Rahmati and Mohsin Hassan were the two substitutes used by Al Ahli.  In their next clash, El Jaish take on Muaither on March 2, 2017 at Al Gharafa Stadium.

Jimenez double
Luis Jimenez put in a man of the match performance as his first half brace helped Al Arabi beat Al Wakrah 3-1.
The first half saw three goals, with the first of them coming from Al Wakrah striker Mahir Yousef. In the eighteenth minute the tall Qatari attacker gave his side the lead after he headed in a botched clearance over the top of Al Arabi keeper, Mohamed Mubarak. Al Arabi then levelled the score line in the twenty-sixth-minute courtesy of a goal from their captain, Luis Jimenez. The Chilean midfielder chested down a cross in the box and then rolled the ball into the net past the keeper to score his side’s first goal of the game.
Just three minutes later, Jimenez added a second goal to give Al Arabi the lead. After a brilliant
counter-attacking play, Jimenez played a one-two pass with Ezekiel, before sending the ball into the far side of the net.
 Late in to the second half Oswaldo Oliviera’s men scored a third goal to end the match at 3-1. Luis Jimenez was once again in the spotlight as he provided the cross for the goal. An unmarked Ezekiel found himself on the end of a perfectly placed cross and headed the ball into the goal in the ninetieth minute.
The win will be highly encouraging for Al Arabi, who suffered a massive defeat last week to Al Sadd. Al Wakrah, on the other hand, find themselves stuck to the bottom of the table and need to find a way to get points from the remaining few games in the season.