Al Sadd players and officials celebrate after winning the 2014 Emir Cup at the Khalifa International Stadium yesterday; Raul, Majed and Haydos scored as Ammouta’s men beat Sailiya 3-0 in the final.
By Joe Koraith/Doha
The 2014 Emir Cup final played yesterday at the Khalifa International Stadium was between two teams trying to create history. Al Sadd were trying to erase their record of having lost in the past two consecutive finals and Al Sailiya were trying to win the title for the first time. And in the end, it was Sadd who rewrote their jinxed history in the finals and won their 14th Emir Cup trophy by defeating Sailiya 3-0. |
And the scoreline was a true indicator of the performance of both the teams. Sadd dominated the possession throughout and controlled the game with ease. Sailiya players, who had done extremely well to get to the final, couldn’t up their game when the situation demanded. It was a case where the favourites ended up winning.
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani waves at the crowd ahead of the 2014 Emir Cup final yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil
The game started on an even note and the first clear chance, in fact, went to Sailiya. In the 26th minute, they were awarded a freekick and Marcelo Ramiro delivered precisely into the box which Fawzi Ayiesh connected with his head. But it was over the bar.
And then in the 32nd minute, Sadd carved open the Sailiya defence with clever passing between Nadir Belhadj and Rodrigo Tabata. The Brazilian then released the ball to Raul, who was unmarked in the box, and the Sadd skipper made no mistake and gave his team the lead.
The crowd went into raptures but their joy was short-lived when just a minute later, Sailiya were awarded a penalty. But skipper Dagano shot over the bar missing the best chance to put his team on level. If Dagano had scored, the end result could have been different.
In the 38th minute, Khalfan Ibrahim got a great chance to double the lead when he was released by Raul into the Sailiya box. But Khalfan couldn’t dribble past the keeper.
Sailiya got another chance in the 41st minute when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Ramiro curled it over the wall and the ball dipped dangerously but it only ended up going into the side netting.
The second half saw Sailiya players trying to push forward and the first 10 minutes saw them control the possession but they couldn’t penetrate the Sadd defence. In the 55th minute, Sadd were into the attack mode again. Defender Jung Soo Lee came up for a corner and his header was a good one but the keeper got a hand to it. The rebound fell to Khalfan but Sailiya keeper Gomis Diranth pulled off another save.
The game was settling into a similar pattern as the first half where Sadd were controlling the midfield possession and Sailiya were looking to attack on the counter. And in the 60th minute, Ayiesh almost scored from a freekick but his shot was tipped over the bar by Sadd keeper Saad Abdulla.
Administrative Control and Transparency Authority chairman HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah with the Emir Cup trophy. PICTURE: Mamdouh
After this scare for Sadd, it was their turn to be awarded a free kick in the danger territory. Tabata send in a curler but Gomis saved the shot only to see the rebound fall to Ibrahim Majed who tapped it in. And 62 minutes into the match, Sadd had doubled their lead.
The second goal seemed to take the wind out of Sailiya’s sails. The shoulders had dropped and though they were attempting to go on the offensive, Sadd didn’t have to make any serious saves after that. The next exciting moment of the match came in the 89th minute when Raul was substituted. The Sadd skipper had scored the team’s opener and played a huge role in the match. The loud cheer of the crowd was proof enough.
Sailiya were going through the motions after that and Sadd even managed to score their third goal in injury time. This time it was Hasan Khalid Haydos who took advantage of a poor clearance to score past the goalkeeper.
The final whistle sounded for the Sadd players to burst into celebration. It was a truly deserved victory for Sadd and Sailiya can be happy with the fact that they did make it to the final.