Al Sadd cracked their Qatar Cup hoodoo yesterday, winning the tournament for the first-ever time with a 2-1 win over plucky El Jaish at the Al Sadd Stadium last evening.
Baghdad Bouedjah and Jugurtha Hamroun, Al Sadd’s two Algerian stars, scored a goal each on either side of the break while Uzbek international Sardor Rashidov netted the lone goal for El Jaish.
The victory came under the captaincy of Spain and Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez under whom Al Sadd lifted their first piece of silverware in Qatar since he joined the club in 2015.
But on the other hand there was despair for El Jaish who will be disbanded as an individual entity and merged with Lekhwiya from next season, something which has not gone down too well with their players.
El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi had spoken of his desire to see his club go down in Qatar’s sporting history with a bang, although his dream could still come true if they do well in the Emir Cup and make the final set for May 19.
Yesterday, however, it was Jesualdo Ferriera’s Al Sadd who made most of the opportunities that came their way to clinch a deserving victory.
“I am very happy for the team. Al Sadd have not had the best of luck in recent times but yesterday we were clearly the better side and deserved to be winners,” said the Portuguese national
“We were unlucky to finish second in the Qatar Stars League but today’s win would definitely boost our morale ahead of the quarter-finals of the Emir Cup coming up next,” he added.
Al Sadd started off well to put pressure on the El Jaish goal. Hamroun fired one over the post to rattle El Jaish nerves and Abdulkarim Hassan’s shot from close rebounded off the left post.
However, Al Sadd were not to be denied and took a well-deserved lead through Bounedjah. The prolific striker lunged forward to calmly knock down a long pass from Hassan al-Haydos  and struck powerfully from the top of the box in the 21st minute to score the opener past El Jaish goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar
But Al Sadd couldn’t take their lead into the second session when Uzbek winger Rashidov restored parity for El Jaish when he slipped the ball under the diving Wolves goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb after receiving an incisive diagonal pass from Yasser Abubakar.
Reinvigorated by the equalising goal, El Jaish continued attacking right until the end of the first half but Al Sadd held on to end the half with both sides level pegging at 1-1.
The second half was all about the Wolves who dominated the entire session. They made their attacking intentions clear when  al-Haydos sent his header over the bar, six minutes into the second half. Visibly frustrated, El Jaish midfielders Mohamed Methnani and Yasser Abubakar picked up yellow cards for careless tackles.
With just over 15 minutes to play, Al Sadd struck a spectacular winner from Hamroun. The Algerian received a pass from the right at the edge off the box before sweetly striking the ball into the top left hand corner.
Sadd were in the ascendancy and could have grabbed a third of the evening had captain Xavi’s close-range hadn’t fallen straight into the hands of the Jaish goalkeeper Ababacar.  In the 83rd minute al-Haydos went for a spectacular chip which looped over the keeper and hit the cross bar denying the Qatari international a goal at the death.
Al Sadd held on until the final whistle and recorded a famous victory, with fans chanting Xavi’s name. The legendary Spaniard, not given to excessive displays of emotion, was beside himself with joy, having broken a near three-year jinx with Al Sadd in Qatar.

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