El Jaish shock Al Sadd with Maher goal

Action from the Al Gharafa-Umm Salal match in the QSL yesterday. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. Picture: Jayaram

Sports Reporter/Doha

Maher Yousef’s 84th minute strike helped El Jaish score a shock 1-0 win over Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League yesterday, a result that gives Lekhwiya an outside chance of upsetting the odds in the final straight of the tournament.

Yousef stabbed the ball in past the hapless Al Sadd goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr after the ball had come his way after hitting the crosspiece following a move in the midfield initiated by Karim Ziani.

Al Sadd continue to lead the league with 40 points, while Lekhwiya are second on 35 and El Jaish a further four points behind.

The Al Sadd-El Jaish match lived up to expectations with both teams determined to prove a point. But it was El Jaish who proved the better team, especially in the second half, after trailing Al Sadd in the number of chances created in the first session.

El Jaish enjoyed 55% of ball possession and committed just 15 fouls as opposed to Al Sadd’s 25, hinting at the desperation in the latter’s camp.

The El Jaish goal survived several close calls, with Younis Mahmood, Nadir Behladj and Raul going wide. To make matters worse Ibrahim Majed collected his second yellow card.

Although Lekhwiya managed to close the gap by one point with a draw against Al Khor, they were left ruing their luck and wondering what might have been had they earned the three points they thought were theirs for the asking.

But they went a goal down in the 40th minute with Brazilian striker Bruno Menezes finding the net, and after going close on a few occasions found the equaliser through Dame Traore, his long-range shot taking a deflection off midfielder Salam Shaker.

Lekhwiya, the defending champions, were playing their first match at their new brand stadium.

Meanwhile, Al Khor, who defeated Al Rayyan last week, moved to seventh place boosting their tally to 18 points, but Al Gharafa’s fall continued as they were held by Umm Salal 2-2.

Everaldo Pereira (42nd) and Tamer Jamal (57th) found the net for Umm Salal while Fahad Al Shammari (49th) and Nene (54th) were on target for Al Gharafa.