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| GOALBOUND: Al Rayyan’s Abdulla Afifa (8) scores the opening goal against Qatar Sports Club during their Qatar Stars League match at the Al Rayyan Stadium yesterday. (Reuters |
Al Rayyan started their campaign in the Qatar Stars League on a winning note beating Qatar Sports Club 2-1 at their home ground Al Rayyan Stadium, yesterday.
Abdulla Taleb Afifa and Nilmar Honorato da Silva scored a goal each for the winners, while the margin for Qatar Sports Club was reduced by Mohamed Razaq.
Al Rayyan would be indebted to their custodian Oumer Barry, who was rock solid under the bar throughout the match. He came up with some brilliant saves to see his side safely home.
It was Qatar SC who held control of the proceeding early on but failed to make the most of the opportunities that came their way.
Three minutes into play, Bakari Kone had the Al Rayyan keeper Barry at his mercy but the latter pulled out an exceptional diving save to thwart the danger. Qatar SC kept pressing hard and in the 10th minute, a long ranger from Abdullaj Ali al-Diyani went just wide off the Al Rayyan goal.
Then again in the 18th minute, striker Razaq tested Barry with a power-packed left footed effort from the top of the box. However, his shot had too much elevation to fly over the crossbar.
The first purposeful move from Al Rayyan came in the 28th minutes, when Fabio Cesar Montesin did well to stretch enough to connect a ball punted in by Yunus Ali Rahmathi from the deep. But his tough lacked the power and elevation to beat Qatar SC custodian Mohamed Mubarak Budawud.
Then against the run of play, Al Rayyan shot into lead through a free-kick in the 25th minute. Rodrigo Barbosa Tabata curled the ball in and Afifa timed his jump to perfection, to node it home.
Trailing by a goal, Qatar SC saw another opportunity go in vain in the 44th minute. Once again, it was keeper Barry who played the role of a spoiler. He dived to his left to keep out a sharply dipping free-kick from Qatar SC skipper Yousef Safri.
Just before going into the breather, Qatar SC keeper Budawud saved his team of further blushes by keeping a goal bound shot from Tabata at bay.
Soon after the change of ends, Qatar SC found themselves trailing by another goal. Their defender Seyed Hadi Aghily pulled his hamstring while trying to intercept a long ball and Al Rayyan’s Brazilian striker da Silva lurking from behind latched on to that opportunity. He first went wide of the onrushing keeper Budawud before tapping in the ball into the open goal.
Pumped up by the two goal cushion, Al Rayyan almost got the third one in the 56th minute. Da Silva had a shy at the goal after dripping past two defenders but it went just wide of the far post.
However, it was game on once Qatar SC finally managed to get the breakthrough in the 61st minute. Razaq, finding the roof of the goal will a brilliant diving low, head off a cross from Khaled Salih al-Zakiba.
Thereafter, Al Rayyan survived a series of close calls and it was none other than their custodian Barry doing the rescue act. Al Rayyan almost sealed the match in the 80th minute had it not been for the framework.
A Tabata free-kick beat Qatar SC keeper Budawud in the air but found the horizontal in its way. Al Rayyan then made sure to soak in all the pressure till the final whistle to script a fine win.
Elsewhere, defending champions Lekhwiya defeated Al Sailiya SC 2-0. Both goals for the winners came in the first half. Nam Tae-Hee put Lekhwiya in the lead in the 13th minutes, while Sebastien Soria went on to widened the lead in the 25th.
In another match, Al Wakra handed Al Gharafa a 2-0 drubbing. Younis Mahmoud provided Wakra the break-through in 35th minute, while Moaz Yousif sealed the match in the 80th.