A 38th-minute penalty by Youssef Msakni helped Al Arabi beat Al Gharafa in the QNB Stars League yesterday. Victory at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium kept Arabi in touch with leaders Al Duhail, who have two points cushion at the top and also have played a game less. Arabi were forced to play with 10 men from the 67th-minute after Abdullah Marafee was shown a red car but they managed to see out the game.
Meanwhile, Qatar SC climbed to fourth in the table after a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Al Ahli at the Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium. Ahli took the lead towards the end of first half before Qatar SC rallied to score all their goals in the second half for a much-needed victory. While Hossein Kanaani scored for Ahli in the 44th minute, Qatar SC’s scorers were Badr Benoun (72nd minute), Eisa Ahmed (77th minute) and Under-20 substitute Raoul Sanda (90+8 minute).
Both teams began the battle sprightly and Qatar SC’s Javier Martinez produced a menacing header in the sixth minute, but Al Ahli goalkeeper Yazan Naim jumped high to stave off the threat with his outstretched hand. Qatar SC made a few more raids, but were still unsuccessful.
Ahli then struck when Kanaani produced a fine header off a corner kick from Aboubakr Mohamed Bayoumi, which flew into the left corner of the net. Rattled Qatar SC then looked to make amends and in the added time of opening half, Sebastian Soria did break through to score, but was offside.
The hard efforts of Qatar SC paid them dividends late into the second half with Benoun replying with a superb header to the top right of the net from a dead ball kick of Bashar Resan. Qatar SC did not have to wait long to consolidate their lead as Palangi made a good left foot kick even while losing balance off a cross from Soria.
Ahli stepped up their efforts to find an equalizer, but were again left shocked in the dying moments as the young Sanda launched a counter-attack picking on a long ball to dash for a fine field goal. He was assisted by Khaled Walid on the way as he returned a perfect cross.
Earlier at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium, Umm Salal recorded a valuable 1-0 win over Al Shamal thanks to Adel Alawi strike in the stoppage time. Umm Salal, who are 11th in the table raised their tally to 13 points, just one behind Shamal, who are ninth. Shamal's Jassim al-Hashemi was sent off in 90+10 minute after receiving a second yellow card.
The match started off strongly and Umm Salal’s Yassin al-Bakhit almost scored in the fifth minute, but Shamal goalkeeper Babacar Seck blocked the ball. Play was confined to the midfield and Umm Salal’s Al Bakhit passed a ball in the 19th minute to Joao Teixeira, who hit it over the crossbar. At the beginning of second half, intense attempts were made especially by Umm Salal. They came close to scoring again in the 54th minute, but the Al Shamal defence and goalkeeper dealt with it.
Shamal too had their chances and, in the 59th minute, Amjad Atwan hit his shot against the post as he tested Umm Salal goalkeeper of Khalifa Abubakr. Even as both teams tried hard for a breakthrough, Umm Salal succeeded in getting it as Al Bakhit provided Alawi with a cross to find the target.