Omar al-Somah scored a second half brace to help Al Arabi reclaim top spot at the QNB Stars League (QSL) with a 2-1 victory over Al Ahli at Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium on Thursday. In another match, Al Rayyan beat Al Sailiya 2-0 to claim their first victory of the season.
Younes Ali’s Arabi rallied from a goal down after Yazan al-Naimat put Al Ahli ahead with a goal in 28th minute. The Dream Team made several attempts and were finally paid late in the match with al-Somah scoring goals in 79 and 87 minutes.
With the crucial win, Al Arabi moved to 19 points, two points clear of Al Duhail, who jumped to the summit with a victory over Al Gharafa on Wednesday.
The advantage in the first half was for Ahli, but they retreated physically in the second half. And Arabi succeeded in scoring two goals, which helped them to valuable three points and stay on top of the table.
The first half was even and al-Naimat scored taking advantage of the Al Arabi defender Abdullah al-Sulaiti, who tried to pass the ball inside the penalty area to the goalkeeper. Al-Naimat grabbed it and easily put it into the goal.
Omar missed an opportunity to double the score in the 33rd minute, after being completely alone in the Al Ahli goal after being put through by Yousef Msakni. Arabi pressed hard for the equalizer before the end of first half and appealed for a penalty in the 35th minute, but were denied by VAR who judged that Ahli defender Shojae Khalilzadeh did not intend to touch the ball with his hand.
In the second half, Arabi appeared better and intensified pressure. They brought in Abdullah al-Muraisi and Ibrahim Kalla in place of Abdulrahman Enad and Hamed Ismail. As time passed by, Omar succeeded in scoring off a brilliant cross by substitute Ibrahim Nasser.
Arabi continued to press hard and almost scored in the 81st minute, but Msakni’s header was pushed away by the goalkeeper. Al-Naimat responded with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, but it went over the crossbar. Omar then scored again with a missile shot from outside the penalty area towards the end.
Earlier at the same venue, Nicolas Cordova’s Al Rayyan ended the victory drought after strikes from Osamah al-Tairi (49th minute) and Yohan Boli (72nd minute). The much-needed victory after six defeats in seven matches boosted the Lions’ tally to four points, moving them to 11th in the standings by pushing Sailiya to the bottom.
Sailiya would consider themselves a bit unlucky for not being able to score when the teams were locked goalless just after the first half. Mehrdad Mohamedi’s fine header effort was parried off in the nick of time by Rayyan goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodriguez.
The lurking Lions then soon made amends as an alert Osamah picked on a corner-kick melee chance to rush for the ball and score much to the delight of his teammates and fans. Having gained the vital lead, Al Rayyan continued to attack and midway through the second half Boli put in the clear outside the box had only the goalkeeper to beat but kicked straight only for the ball to rebound. The forward then quickly moved to get the ball again and slammed it into the net. The Lions kept up the pressure towards the end but Sailiya held on well and ensured no further goals.