El Jaish fans cheering their team during their match against Umm Salal.
Despite scoring four goals in the tie, it wasn’t enough for Djamel Belmadi’s side who will need to register a victory on the final day of the season to assure Qatar Cup qualification.
Lekhwiya opened the scoring through striker Nam Tae-hee who hit a powerful volley from inside the Al Ahli box. Clumsy defending by Al Ahli’s Fred Dabanka helped Nam deflect home an easy volley for his team’s first goal in the 9th minute.
Five minutes later Iajour registered his first of the tie thanks to an assist from captain Meshal Abdulla. The Qatari international’s smart through ball found Iajour who slipped the ball past Lekhwiya stopper Amine Lecomte.
Lekhwiya edged back into the lead on the 30th minute in fortuitous circumstances. A speculative header from Mohammed Muntari trickled into the back of the net after a horrendous error by Ahli keeper Yazan Naeem. Lekhwiya consoldated a few minutes from half-time young midfielder Ahmed al-Saadi latched onto a Karim Boudiaf past to slot in from close range the first half ended 3-1 to Lekhwiya.
Ahli rallied in the second half and clawed their way back into the tie on the 63rd minute. Congaleese striker Mubele scored from close range after a good pass from Iajour. Just ten minutes later, Lekhwiya restored their two goal cushion courtesy of Mohammed Muntari. A well timed leap and header was enough to creep past Yazan Naeem in the Ahli goal.
Despite being two goals down, Al Ahli sprung into life and scored three goals in the final ten minutes to seal a famous win. Iajour grabbed his second of the tie to make it 4-3. A tidy knockdown from Meshal Abdulla and a first time shot from Iajour beat Amine Lecomte at the near post.
Lekhwiya looked nervy and missed the calming influence of Spanish defender Chico Flores. However it was a major goalkeeping error from Qatari international Amine Lecomte that came in handy for Al Ahli. Lecomte failed to control a routine back pass, and his heavy touch allowed Mohsin al-Yazeedi to nip the ball off him and poke home from close range, making the tie 4-4.
Momentum was fully with the Brigadiers and Yusef Adam’s side took sealed a famous win in stoppage time. Mumbele’s fine through ball found a unmarked Iajour who tapped in at the back post to seal a 5-4 victory for the Brigadiers.
Meanwhile, a double by Abdulrazzaq Hamadallah helped El Jaish seal a 2-1 win over top-4 chasing Umm Salal.
Hamadallah scored two goals from the penalty spot in either half to help El Jaish post their 14th win of the season.
El Jaish opened the scoring through the Moroccan on the 18th minute, calmly cavorting past Eysa Shaaban and slotting into the bottom left-hand corner. Despite being behind, Umm Salal rallied and looked dangerous on the break, however El Jaish stood firm and the first half ended 1-0 to the Soldiers.
Umm Salal slowly improved in the second half, and grabbed a deserved equaliser just after the hour mark. A well placed Sanzhar Tursunov cross picked out Mounir El Hamdaoui who nodded in from close range.
Umm Salal where growing in confidence, by against the run of play Jaish took a decisive lead from the penalty spot. Yasser Abou Baker was scythed down in the penalty area, and the referee pointed to the spot. Hamadullah made no mistake from the spot scoring past Eysa Shaaban, again slotting into the bottom left hand of the goal, for his 20th goal of the season.
Umm Salal tried hard to push for an equaliser, but where knocked back time and again by the Jaish rear guard as Sabri Lamouchi’s side held on to register the win. As for Umm Salal they still can make the Qatar Cup competition providing that they can beat relegation threatened Al Kharaitiyat and Lekhwiya drop points at already relegated Mesaimeer.
In a late match, Al Rayyan wasted a 2-0 cushion as late goals from Hassan al-Haydos gave Al Sadd a 2-2 draw.
The high-profile match, dubbed as Qatar’s version of La Liga’s Clasico, saw goals by Sergio Garcia in the 55th and 71st minute give champions Al Rayyan a 2-0 lead.
But Al Sadd were not finished as al-Haydos struck in the 89th minute and put his team on level terms with his second goal a minute later to give his team an unlikely draw.