Al Sailiya clinched a valuable 1-0 win and secured three vital points in a tense encounter with Al Arabi in the Qatar Stars League yesterday. Sailiya scored the game’s only goal just eight minutes after kick-off when a cross reached Sayaf al-Kurbi inside the penalty area. Al-Kurbi initially tried to shoot himself but scuffed his shot. However, the ball reached Mohamed Muddather, who smashed it home for the league strugglers.
Al Arabi played some exciting football in the first half but they failed to convert any of the goal-scoring opportunities that came their way. Their best chance of the game came in the 9th minute when Jimenez hit a lovely cross that found Ahmed Fathi waiting but he was unable to test the goalkeeper. Al Arabi’s biggest chance of the first half came in the dying minutes when the ball fell to Ahmed al -Khalfan in a dangerous area.
Al Arabi continued their pressure in the second half but also continued to waste chance after chance in front of Al Sailiya’s goal. Al Arabi came desperately close to stealing a point when al-Khalfan hit the post in the 4th minute of injury time.
Al Arabi nearly went two nil down at the final whistle had it not been for the excellent performance of their goalkeeper Masoud Zeraei.
Al Arabi left empty-handed in the end after missing plenty of chances and continue their slip down the league table. With this result Al Sailiya now have 15 points, a point less than Al Arabi’s haul so far.

Umm Salal grabs 2-1 win against Al Khor
Al Khor were beaten 1-2 at home by Umm Salal in the Round 14 of the league. Umm Salal were able to finish the first half in the lead thanks to a goal from their big number 13, Yannick Sagbo, whose shot beat Papa Djebril after just 12 minutes, and a crucial second goal from Hilal Mohamed right before the stroke of half time on the 44th minute.
The game was finely balanced between both sides until Sagbo scored Umm Salal’s first goal. Al Khor didn’t let their heads drop after going behind though and heaped the pressure on the Orange Fortress’ back four looking for that equaliser, maintaining the lion’s share of possession for the remainder of the game.
Al Khor’s Madison and Yagor failed to take advantage of some good goal scoring opportunities and were denied thanks to some excellent goalkeeping. Umm Salal’s defense held up well against the relentless pressure from Al Khor and the Orange Fortress relied heavily on counter attacks which paid dividends right before the end of the first half when Hilal Mohamed scored their second.
Al Khor succeeded in scoring their only goal of the game in the second half when in the 58th minute Sultan al-Enzi received a pass from Saleh Badr inside the penalty area and netted home from close range.
Umm Salal player Saleh al-Yahri was unfortunately severely injured and moved to the hospital in the 65th minute.
Despite the superiority of Al Khor during the remaining time, their players didn’t manage to break Umm Salal’s strong defense and Umm Salal left with all three points.

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