Al Arabi’s Wanderley (left) vies for the ball with El Jaish’s Seulki KO during their QSL match yesterday. PICTURE: Anas Khalid
The match had gone into injury time and the 2-1 scoreline suggested that Al Sadd was going to bolster their lead atop the Qatar Stars League standings.
Al Rayyan, who were in the bottom three of the standings, went all in with goalkeeper Omar Barry also joining his teammates in the Sadd half. The Guinean-born Qatar goalie made his presence count. He scored the equaliser moments before the final whistle to hand them a draw.
Earlier in the match, forward Hassan al-Haydos scored a brace for a Raul-less Sadd. The 23-year-old opened the scoring for Sadd in the 28th minute before Rayyan’s Saiyaf al-Kurbi equalised minutes into the second half.
Al-Haydos struck again in the 81st minute to give Sadd a lead that they would hold well into the injury time before Barry scored the first goal of his career.
Al Arabi forward Wanderley scored a brace in his team’s 2-1 win over El Jaish. The Brazilian opened the scoring in the 34th minute but was soon equalised by Jaish forward Wagner Ribeiro. With the clock hitting 90th minute, Wanderley scored what turned out to be the winner, with Ribeiro wasting a penalty opportunity at the fag end of injury time.
In the first match of the day, Al Kharaitiyat kicked off the second half of the season with a 3-2 win over Al Wakrah thanks to the 57th-minute winner by midfielder Mahmoud Saad.
Kharaitiyat were the first to get off the mark with Youssef Idrissi finding the back of the net in the fifth minute with forward Jaycee Gohn adding another four minutes later.
Wakrah, however, managed to pull one back with Sebastian Saez scoring in the 36th minute. Adnan Derjal’s side pulled themselves together and gave themselves a chance with Hussain Yasser leveling things with a 55th-minute goal.
Kharaitiyat reacted well to the goal with Saad pumping in the third goal two minutes later.
In another match of the day, second-placed Lekhwiya were held to a goalless draw by Al Sailiya who are sixth in the table.
Today, Al Gharafa will take on Al Ahli with an eye on improving on their 8th position in the standings.
Brazilian legend Zico believes the narrow 1-2 defeat against Bundesliga giants Schalke earlier this week will inspire the Cheetahs to a top-four finish.
“We lost too many points in the first half of the season. I think this time is better than that,” Zico said.
“We played Schalke during their winter camp in Doha but I thought we played very well, even though we lost 2-1. I have great confidence in the team and the possibility of achieving good results in the second section of the league.
“We will never give up on the hope of finishing in the top four. That is the ultimate goal.”
Despite the confidence, Zico was wary of Al Ahli, who are on a six-match unbeaten run since they lost 0-2 to Qatar SC on November 2 and are in fifth spot.
“Al Ahli ended very well before the break and we have to be wary of what they are capable of. The difference between our points and the teams up there isn’t particularly big,” he said.
Ahli coach Milan Macula admitted his side will have to work harder than ever if they want to surprise their rivals. “Luck is a big part of football and we had a fair share of it to help us win a lot of points in our last five games. I’m just glad our players got some rest because the first leg of the season was really difficult for us. Some of the guys were really tired so I’m glad they got a really good break,” he said.
Also meeting today will be Qatar SC and Al Khor. Khor coach Laszlo Boloni could be ready to hand a debut to new Brazilian signing William, who joined on loan from Brazilian side Ponto Prete.
The third match of the day will see two bottom-placed teams Muaither and Umm Salal face off. Both the teams will be looking at moving up the order in the second half of the season to avoid relegation.