Bounedjah powers Al Sadd to Sheikh Jassim Cup win

Baghdad Bounedjah scored a scintillating hat-trick as Al Sadd downed Al Duhail 4-2 to win the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup at the Abdulla bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday.The win also helped Al Sadd avenge their 4-1 defeat last year to Lekhwiya, who have been now rebranded as Al Duhail following their merger with El Jaish.Algerian Bouendjah, who was a vital cog in Al Sadd’s Emir’s Cup and Qatar Cup successes last year, struck in the sixth, 20th and 66th minutes to help the Wolves bag their 14th Sheikh Jassim Cup, which pits the league winners against the Emir Cup champs of the previous season.He also played a role in Al Sadd’s fourth goal, winning his team a penalty after he was brought down by Mohamed Moussa in the second half, which fellow Algerian Jugurtha Hamorun converted.South Korean Nam Tae-hee and Moez Ali were on target for Al Duhail either side of the break, the second goal coming seconds prior to the close after seven minutes of injury-time were added to the match.Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Ferreira had lamented his team’s build-up to the season saying their preparations were hit by the World Cup qualifying commitments of his players but the huge margin of victory yesterday eased his concerns barely a week before the start of the QNB Stars League.“We always expected to do well but I am thrilled that we won by such a convincing margin,” he said. “It augurs well for the season ahead,” he added.But despite Al Duhail managing to rope in some top El Jaish players following the merger, they were thoroughly outplayed by Al Sadd, Qatar’s most successful club by a long margin.“We couldn’t get going today although we had our chances,” said Al Duhail coach Djamel Belmadi. “I But there’s a long season ahead and we will surely make amends for today’s loss.” Although Duhail made a strong start by making a couple of deep forays into the rival citadel, it was their own defence that let them down badly and allowed Al Sadd to establish control.In fact, all the three Bounedjah goals were scored in identical fashion, low into the right corner of the net and with the left foot, courtesy of a non-existent Duhail defence.In the sixth minute, Hamroun shook off the Duhail midfield and crossed to Bounedjah who had a free run on the left flank and eased the ball past goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacker.The Algerian was at it again in the 20th minute, but it was Xavi it was who was the provider, steaming down the centre and passing to the Algerian, who again eased the ball past the goalkeeper with a left-footed shot.It looked like Al Sadd will take a comfortable 2-0 lead into the second session but their goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb failed to block a Nam Tae-hee shot properly from close resulting in Al Duhail’s first goal in the 41st minute.Bounedjah got his hat-trick in the 66th minute with Xavi once again providing the assist from the centre and shooting past Ababacker, much in the same way he had scored his first two goals.A few minutes later Bounedjah could have had his fourth goal of the match but a heavy foul on him by Moussa saw him limp off the field. Hamroun made good of the resultant penalty.