Action during the match between Al Gharafa and Lekhwiya. Defending champions Lekhwiya won the match 4-0.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Round 14 of the Qatar Stars League saw normal services resume for the big teams while some of the smaller teams managed to cause an upset or two.
Al Sadd kicked off the round with a 5-1 thrashing of Mesaimeer. The last couple of rounds had seen varying results for the Wolves. Sadd defeated Al Rayyan in the Qatar Classico but then lost to El Jaish in the next round. Sadd had gone into this match without a few of their key players but the bench stepped up and produced a strong performance that will make coach Jesualdo Ferreira a happy man. The QSL powerhouses are currently fourth in the table and will be looking to move up higher. Mesaimeer with just four points, and at the bottom of the table, are in big trouble right now and will need a miraculous performance to avoid relegation.
The highlight of the Monday’s set of matches was Al Kharaitiyat emerging victorious against Qatar Sports Club. It was a keenly contested affair, one that saw five goals being scored but in the end it was Kharaitiyat who claimed the bragging rights with a 3-2 victory.
As for table toppers Rayyan, they would have gone into their match against Sailiya with a little bit of nervousness. Rayyan are leading the league by ten points but Sailiya had exhibited great form coming into this match, having won four consecutive matches. But a busy second half saw Rayyan skipper Rodrigo Tabata convert a penalty in the 86th minute and bring victory to his team, albeit a win that Sailiya made them work hard for. The other match on Monday ended in a goalless stalemate between Umm Salal and Al Khor.
Tuesday was again a busy day for the QSL teams with three matches in action. The spotlight was on the Match of the Week clash between Lekhwiya and Al Gharafa. The defending champions were made to work hard for their victory but a brilliant second-half performance saw them defeat Gharafa 4-0 and extend their winning run to six matches. Djamel Belmadi’s boys have rediscovered the form which has seen them being crowned champions three times in the previous four seasons.
In the other matches, El Jaish were able to eke out a 1-0 victory over Al Ahli thanks an early goal from their in-form striker Abderrazzak Hamdallah. The Moroccan has scored 11 goals for his team this season and is currently in third place in the goal-scoring charts behind Lekhwiya’s Youssef Msakni (13 goals) and Rayyan’s Rodrigo Tabata (14). In the other match, Al Arabi endured their second consecutive loss when they went down 1-0 to Al Wakrah. Arabi was the stronger team on paper but that didn’t translate into a positive result for the Dream Team.
These results mean that the table has seen a bit of rejig. Rayyan are leading the table with 39 points. Jaish have climbed to the second spot with 29. Lekhwiya find themselves in third with 28 and just one point below them in Sadd with 27. Arabi have dropped off a bit and find themselves in fifth place with 23 points.
