Title contenders Al Sadd’s hopes were dealt with a blow as arch-rivals Al Duhail, playing on their home turf at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium, handed them a 3-1 defeat in the Expo Stars League match on Friday.
The clash between defending champions Al Duhail and heavyweight Al Sadd provided for thrills as Almoez Ali, returning after a game’s suspension for the Red Knights, first missed a penalty kick and later scored the opening goal in the 40th minute.
The mercurial Akram Afif soon equalized for Al Sadd in added time of the opening half (45+3’) before Al Duhail produced two more goals in the second session through Michael Olunga (57th minute) and Sultan Al Braik (62nd minute) to register a worthy win.While the result took Al Duhail’s tally to 25 points to be in 6th place in the standings, it set Al Sadd back a bit at the top position with 43 points. Al Gharafa are in second with 40 points and play Umm Salal (20 pts) tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Al Wakrah who are third in the rankings with 37 points, were handed a 2-4 loss by Al Arabi (5th with 26 pts) in the other match of the day played at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium.
Al Wakrah were reduced to 10-man in the 60th minute when Omar Ali was given the marching orders after he stepped on Al Arabi’s Ahmad Doozandeh while going for a tackle.
While Mohamed Benyettou scored Al Wakrah’s goals in the 4th and 90+2’ (penalty); Hassan Alaaeldin (38th minute), Omar al-Somah (64th & 87th minutes) and Youssef Msakni (90+10’) scored for The Dream Team. With just three more games remaining in the league, the battle for the top places is well and truly on.
In the summit clash, Al Duhail began on a wrong note as Ali struck over from the spot with goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham in front of him in the 15th minute of the match. The penalty was gained after Ismail Mohamed was brought down by Al Sadd’s Musaab Khidir and the referee after VAR called for the penalty.
Ali however made amends for his miss as he put The Red Knights ahead later positioning himself perfectly in front of defender Musaab to get to a superb cross from Ismail Mohamed from the right to fire in and beat Barsham to his left.
The joy for Al Duhail was however short lived as Al Sadd’s mercurial star Afif Ali soon fetched the equaliser making a dash to beat a marking Kim Moon Huan to nudge the ball into the goal despite getting his foot entangled before sliding. Afif was provided with a golden cross by Gonzalo Plata following a well-coordinated move by The Wolves.
Al Duhail hit back in the second session with two super field goals. Getting back the lead was Olunga as he neatly slotted the ball home into the left corner after Ali from the right cut past two defenders while on top right of the box, the shot went through another defender overlapped by a rival player and which also left an onrushing Musaab unsighted as the ball went to a waiting Olunga to do the rest.
Al-Braik then slammed in Al Duhail’s third and final goal of the game as he first chested a long pass inside left of the danger area before sending in a solid left-footer.
Today, Al Shamal will play Qatar SC at the Al Bayt Stadium while Al Ahli will meet Al Markhiya at the Al Thumama Stadium. Both matches kick-off at 9.30pm.