Wakrah beat Duhail to go 2nd, Arabi stun Sadd

Al Wakrah dashed reigning champions Al Duhail’s hopes as they battled back twice from being a goal down to score a 3-2 win in their rescheduled match of the Expo Stars League 2023-2024 season at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday.
In the late evening clash, Al Arabi beat Al Sadd 1-0 in their rescheduled match at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Al Arabi rode on a goal-mouth melee goal from Rafinha, scored in the 31st minute, to beat the table toppers Al Sadd as The Wolves failed to find an equaliser.
Earlier, it was a superb fightback from The Blue Wave who suffered an early setback but they challenged the formidable Red Knights to eventually prevail in the end.
While Youssef Aymen (7th minute) and Philippe Coutinho (45+15th minute-penalty) scored for Al Duhail, Jacinto Dala (27th minute), Omar Ali (74th minute) and Hamdi Fathi (77th minute) got the goals for Al Wakrah.
The win saw Al Wakrah move into the second spot in the rankings with 24 points, ahead of Al Gharafa on goal difference. Al Duhail remain in fifth place with 17 points. Al Sadd lead the rankings with 28 points with Al Arabi being 6th with 16 points.
The crucial contest began with Al Duhail grabbing early lead on a freak chance following a free kick from Coutinho. With Mohamed Benyettou of Al Wakrah making a defensive header the ball flew towards the goal but goalkeeper Saoud Mubarak did well to get his hands high to make a block, the ball however fell out and a lurking Aymen kicked it in with a high left foot.
Put on the backfoot, Al Wakrah looked to make inroads into the rival defence. They succeeded in making some openings and intensified their attacks midway through the opening half.
In the 25th minute, Lucas Mendes made a header but it was saved after Al Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria grappled with his hands. Soon a Trent Sainsbury’s shot from close missed to the left after a set piece situation. The misses were soon made up for as Dala, waiting at the top of the box got a good pass and rushed in to make a telling kick with Zakaria (well out of his blocks) again struggling to hold on to the ball which lobbed over and into the net (1-1).
The closing stages of the first half saw Al Duhail win a penalty as Sainsbury drew a foul against Khaled Mohamed in front of the goal. A VAR check resulted in the spot kick being given and Coutinho made no mistake as Al Duhail went into the break at 2-1. In the second session (69th minute), Al Duhail got a good chance to double the lead but South Korean Kim Moon-hwan being in the clear dashed in to score but failed to beat a diving goalkeeper with the ball going just wide to the left after touching his legs. Moon-hwan also had a waiting Almoez Ali on the left but chose to go solo.
Five minutes later, Al Wakrah snatched an initiative to level the scores at 2-2 as Omar Ali made the most of a defensive header from Ruben Semedo. Ali took the lob on the volley from just inside the box to score with a left-footer. With Al Duhail still coming to terms, Al Wakrah bagged their third and winning goal within minutes as Dala moving from the right provided an unmarked Fathi with a fine ball to slam in from just outside the box and into the left corner of the goal (3-2).
Al Duhail tried to make amends in the remaining time but Al Wakrah held on to savour a delightful victory.