A piece of action from the Sheikh Jassim Cup final

Sports Reporter/DohaJaralla al-Marri struck early in the second half as Al Rayyan drew first blood in the race for the season’s bragging rights by winning the Sheikh Jassim Cup with a pulsating 1-0 win over Al Sadd at Aspire yesterday.Diego Aguirre’s boys thoroughly dominated the match despite the small margin of victory and in the process sounded a warning to their domestic rivals, a month before the prestigious Qatar Stars League is due to start.It was Al Rayyan’s third Sheikh Jassim Cup title, having previously won the event during the 1992-93 and 2000-01 seasons and sets up the team nicely for the remainder of the lengthy season.Brazilian Rodrigo Tabata, who was voted best player of the 2011-12 Qatar season, was truly in his element as he tormented the Al Sadd defence time and again, coming close to scoring on several occasions.Even the presence of Spanish legend Raul in the Al Sadd camp couldn’t prevent Al Rayyan from asserting their supremacy right from the start.Al Rayyan, with their army of Brazilian professionals, were simply dominated ball possession, hardly giving Al Sadd any space to work the ball and create opportunities.The game really picked up after a rather lacklustre first session with Al Rayyan looking like scoring any moment.And sure enough they got the goal when striker al-Marri found the net in the 48th minute, finishing off a rebound from point blank range after Al Sadd goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr had done well to save a Tabata shot.Tabata was in the thick of the action several times after that. In the 57th minute, the Brazilian had an open goal in front of him but shot straight to Saqr from 10 yards.He had an even better opportunity to score in the 73rd minute, but after intercepting the ball inside the penalty area, he failed to produce enough power in his shot, losing momentum as he spun around.A minute later substitute Abdulla Alawi found himself nicely placed to score but went wide from the edge of the penalty area.Al Sadd’s only shot at goal in the second half came via a free-kick, which Khalfan Ibrahim blasted over the goalpost.Al Rayyan could have finished off in style in the 84th minute when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on new Brazilian import Nilmar for which Mesad al-Hamad was shown the red card.However, much to Nilmar’s dismay his shot was saved by Saqr diving to his right.“Its good to win the first Cup of the season. It gives you motivation and hunger for the remainder of the season,’ said Al Rayyan coach Aguirre.“We played well and were unlucky not to win by a bigger margin. However it’s early season and the players are only getting used to big games after the off season.”