Duhail beat Wakrah to stay in lead, Afif helps Sadd beat Umm Salal

Al Duhail secured a 2-0 victory over Al Wakrah to maintain their four-point lead in the Qatar Stars League, while Akram Afif scored the winner as Al Sadd edged Umm Salal 1-0 to stay in touch with the leaders on Friday.
At the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Goals from Karim Boudiaf (second minute) and Michael Olunga (56th minute) solidified the league leaders’ position at the top of the standings with 35 points, with defending champions Sadd three points behind.
Duhail were ahead within the opening two minutes, with Boudiaf heading from very close range following a corner kick by Paulo Edmilson that had Almoez Ali inadvertently sliding the ball to the Qatari central defender to put the final nail. Ali almost made it two for The Red Knights in the 13th minute if not for a well-timed intervention of goalkeeper Saoud al-Khater, who prevented the left-footed shot from the right side of the box, from an assist by Olunga, from reaching the expected target.
Ayoub Assal almost changed the narratives for Al Wakrah in the 43rd minute, but an offside put paid to what could have been an equaliser for the Blue Wave.
Olunga narrowly missed an opportunity to double the lead for Al Duhail in the 49th minute when his right-footed shot from the centre of the box went just a bit too high. Edmilson seemed to have registered his name on the scorer’s sheet in the 51st minute, but his goal was stood down following a VAR check for offside.
Five minutes later, the second goal eventually came for Al Duhail, with Olunga finding the net following a defensive error that allowed Ali to find the Kenyan international unmarked as he wasted no time in blasting home with a right-footed shot.
Homam al-Ameen missed what could have been the third goal for Al Duhail in the 77th minute when a square ball by Ismail Mohammed was miscued by the left back with only an empty net to tap in.
At Grand Hamad Stadium, Afif scored the winner as Al Sadd kept up their charge. Umm Salal presented a strong challenge and their goalkeeper Louay Sherif Ashour stood out. Later, substitute goalkeeper Jehad Mohammed also showed his mettle by stopping a penalty kick from Afif in the second half. But Afif’s early opening strike in the sixth minute of the match saw the defending champions move on to 31 points. Afif put them ahead with a fine strike from top of the box that beat two defenders and the goalkeeper to his right.
Umm Salal could not recover from the setback and were mostly pushed back by Al Sadd’s repeated attempts. Al Sadd could have doubled the lead in the 31st minute when a Rafa Mujica cross from the left gave Giovani Henrique a superb chance in front of an empty net but his deflection saw the ball go out just past the right post.
In the 43rd minute, a Giovani header went over the bar. On the hour mark, Umm Salal tried to force things off a corner but an Antonio Mance angular header was well judged and held by Al Sadd goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham.Nine minutes later, Barsham also cut off a Kenji Gorre kick.
In the 71st minute, Afif moved into the rival box and Ashour while shadowing fouled with a check from behind and the referee called for a penalty. Umm Salal chose to replace Ashour with goalkeeper Jehad Mohammad and it worked as he dived left to cut off Afif’s spot kick. There were more exciting moments towards the end, but Al Sadd went on to prevail as Umm Salal failed to find an equalizer.
In the other match on Friday, Qatar SC defeated Al Ahli 3-0 at the Al Thumama Stadium. Sebastian Soria (25th minute), Carlinhos (45+9 penalty) and Ben Malango (46th minute) struck for Qatar SC to extend their points tally to 19 points, while Al Ahli are in fourth position with 28 points.