Anderson Martins (extreme right) celebrates with teammates after scoring the first goal for El Jaish against Al Sadd yesterday. Picture: Noushad Thekkayil
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Anderson Martins, Romarinho and Mohamed Muntari were on target as holders El Jaish handed Al Sadd a humiliating 3-1 defeat in the semi-finals of the Qatar Cup at the Abdulla bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday.
The Wolves, who missed out on the Qatar Stars League title after finishing second to Lekhwiya, were outclassed by the Armymen who created more chances despite the teams enjoying 50% ball possession.
Al Sadd started the season well by winning the Sheikh Jassim Cup but several adverse results towards the later stages of the QSL saw Lekhwiya storm to the title earlier this month.
They had hardly recovered from that setback when they met their match in El Jaish who showed more intent and enterprise on their way to the final where they will take on Lekhwiya who beat Qatar Sports Club 5-0.
Martins put El Jaish ahead in the 23rd minute by slotting the rebound home from point blank range after Mohamed Muntari’s header following a corner kick was blocked by goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb.
A couple of minutes later El Jaish thought they had scored their second goal, but Majid Mohamed was adjudged off-side by a whisker.
Al Sadd, however didn’t take much time to find the equalizer, and it came somewhat fortuitously in the 49th minute after El Jaish goalkeeper Saoud al-Khater had done well to save a Muriqui shot from close off a free-kick taken by Nadir Belhadj.
But the ball fell into Yusuf Ahmed Ali’s path and the forward stabbed it home with ease to help Al Sadd draw level.
El Jaish, however, stepped up their game a notch in the second half and literally toyed with Al Sadd, who were missing the services of Khalfan Ibrahim in the front.
They regained the lead in the 56th minute after Majid Mohamed had displayed fine anticipation in the penalty area to chip the ball to Romarinho who drew goalkeeper al-Sheeb forward and scored with a delectable lob of his own.
Al Sadd struggled to find any rhythm with the result that they barely got past the rival defence, while El Jaish looked like increasing their lead any moment.
And in the 71st minute, the defending champions put the outcome of the match beyond any doubt with Mohamed Muntari’s desperate lunge directing a Wagner Ribeiro free-kick past a hapless al-Sheeb. There was no end to Al Sadd’s woes, however as midfielder Nadir Belhadj was dismissed with a red card with 15 minutes to go following a foul on following on Majid Mohamed.
El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi was thrilled with his team’s comprehensive victory.
“I always maintained that if we play to our potential we can beat any team and that is what the boys did today,” the Frenchman said.
“Al Sadd are a side with great history but we dominated them and came away with a fine victory in the end. Everybody played their part in the game.
His Al Sadd counterpart Hussain Ammouta, however, couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“We missed a few players including Khalfan Ibrahim but it should not be taken as an excuse. The fact is we were outplayed today by a very good side.
Ammouta added that he would now concentrate his energies on the Emir Cup and the Asian Champions League last 16 stage for which they qualified with one match to spare.
“There’s still a lot of football left to be played in the coming weeks and we have to keep our spirits up,” the Moroccan said.
