El Jaish stayed on course to defend their Qatar Cup title when they ousted Qatar Stars League champions Lekhwiya 3-2 in an exciting semi-final at Al Sadd stadium yesterday evening. The fans in attendance had plenty of entertainment as the five-goal thriller ended in favour of the soldiers.
Defeat for Lekhwiya means they will have to win the Emir Cup in order to record a treble of titles this season. They won the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup last September and the Qatar Stars League earlier this month, but El Jaish’s resilience and some bad luck put paid to their Qatar Cup campaign.
The game kicked off with explosive pace as Lekhwiya pushed forward to score an early goal. However, a sixth-minute header came off the post, denying them the lead. After a couple of missed chances by either side, El Jaish went ahead through skipper Seydou Keita who took advantage of some sloppy Lekhwiya defending following a corner to score from close range in the 24th minute.
After the opening goal, the game became very physical with lots of rough tackles slowing down the pace. Tempers frayed and in the 38th minute a scuffle broke out between the players and yellow cards were shown to Lekhwiya;s Karim Boudiaf and Nam Tae-hee besides El Jaish’s Mohamed Methnani. Moments later the first half ended with Sabri Lamouchi’s men on the front foot.
Four minutes into the second half, Brazilian Romarinho’s goal doubled El Jaish’s advantage as his diving header from a Murad Naji cross made the score 2-0.
Lekhwiya, however pulled one back just a minute later with Ismail Mohamed connecting with a header into the near side of the net following a cross from the right.
Lekhwiya got back into the game in the 77th minute with Brazilian Edgar da Silva drawing level with a tap-in after Ismail Mohamed made a cut back pass to him.
It seemed like Djemal Belmadi’s men were heading into the penalties but all hopes were dashed when lightning-fast Sardor Rashidov regained El Jaish’s Lead.
The Uzbek international made a solo run from the halfway line after some brilliant counter-attacking play by his side.  He then drove his way into the box and sent the ball into the far corner past the keeper Qassim Burhan with a left-footed strike to cap off his man of the match performance.
With the win, El Jaish will now face Jesualdo Ferreira’s Al Sadd in the final on April 29 at 7pm at the Al Sadd Stadium. Tickets for the final are available at www.qsl.qa