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El Jaish edged Al Kharatiat 1-0 to record their second straight victory while Al Sadd escaped with a 4-4 draw against Umm Salal in the Qatar Stars League yesterday. |
Al Rayyan, meanwhile, suffered their worst drubbing in recent years when they fell to a shocking 5-1 defeat to Al Sailiya, while Qatar Sports Club drew Al Gharafa 1-1. Al Sailiya thus shot to the top of the standings on goal difference with eight points ahead of Qatar Sports Club and El Jaish.
A Wagner Rebeiro goal in the 34th minute was enough for El Jaish to put it past Al Kharatiat while Al Sadd suffered a scare from the Bakary Kone-inspired Umm Salal before rescuing a point thanks to Khalfan Ibrahim’s two second-half goals.
Lekhwiya breached the Al Sadd defence in the third minute with a strike from Othman al-Assas before Kone consolidated just six minutes later as Al Sadd fell behind 2-0.
And although Hassan al-Hydos reduced the margin for the defending champions in the 23rd minute, Kone was once again on target in the 29th to help Lekhwiya lead 3-1 at halftime.
Al Sadd, however, returned from the break with vengeance, Almahdi Ali scoring in the 29th minute to further close the gap before Khalfan’s goals in the 49th and 65th helped them take a 4-3 lead.
But just when it appeared Al Sadd would pull off a thrilling win, Everaldo Pereira scored in injury time to ensure a draw.
“With a little bit of luck we should have won the match and secured three points,” said Al Sadd coach Hussein Amotta.
“However, you can’t complain much after a 4-4 draw because it’ still early days in the tournament,” the Moroccan added.
Al Sadd now have two wins, one loss and one draw from four matches, their 1-0 defeat at the hands of El Jaish last week allowing their rivals to catch up.
Meanwhile, Rebeiro was in fine form as El Jaish, looking for their first QSL title, thoroughly dominated Al Kharatiat only to be let down by poor finishing.
Rebeiro went close a couple of times early in the first half before slotting home from six yards after receiving a pass from Mohamed Methnani, who was put in the clear by Anderson Martins.
El Jaish brought in Jires Ekoko as a substitute in the second half which sparked a number of raids into the Al Kharatiat territory, keeping goalkeeper Khalifa Ndiaye on his toes. Ekoko himself had a couple of shots at the goal, missing one closely in the 66th minute.
Kharatiat’s best chance came in the in the 75th minute when Yahya Kebbe dribbled past the defence only to shoot straight to the goalkeeper Ahmed Sofian.