With their pride severely dented after being thrashed 1-6 by Al Duhail in the Qatar Cup semi-finals, Al Gharafa will look to bounce back in the Amir Cup.
Gharafa, which received a bye into the quarter-finals of the Amir Cup along with Duhail Al Sadd and Al Rayyan, begin their campaign today at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
And they are up against Mesaimeer, who have been the giant killers of the tournament.The second league side stunned QNB Stars League teams Al Sailiya and Al Ahli in third and second, respectively to book their place in the quarter-finals.
Ahead of the 5:15pm kick-off today, Al Gharafa coach Bulent Uygun was wary of Mesaimeer’s threat. 
“We are pleased to participate in the Amir Cup as it’s a prestigious championship. Our preparations have been good. We are aware of Mesaimeer performance so far. 
They were outstanding in their victory over Al Sailiya and Al Ahli. We respect them as a team but are ready to face them,” the Turkish coach said.
Al Gharafa were widely expected to stay in the fourth position in the QNB Stars League and the Cheetahs did that after edging out Umm Salal to finish on 35 points. 
Gharafa reaped rewards for making an overhaul in the January transfer window. 
Uygun took over from Frenchman Jean Fernandez, who guided them to the QSL Cup triumph, before the start of the second phase.
They also strengthened their ranks by roping in Dutch attacking midfielder Wesley Sneijder, Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi and Assim Madibo.
They have a good mix of experience and youth, and Bulent succeeded in moulding them into a fighting unit.
The likes of captain Sneijder, Taremi and Brazilian midfielder Diogo Amado gelled well with youngsters such as goalkeeper Yusuf Hassan, Amro Seraj, Ilyas Ahmed and Monkez Mohamed. They also have talented players such as Ahmed Alaaeldin, Hassan Fadli, Madibo and Othman al-Yahri.
Al Gharafa have one of the strongest attacking lines. They scored 43 goals, the fourth best by any team after Al Duhail, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan, while conceding 34.
But against Duhail they came cropper. When asked about the reason for Gharafa’s poor form in the Qatar Cup semis, Uygun said: “In the Qatar Cup match we played a good first half. But we conceded a goal very early in the second half and that affected our players’ morale.”
In the other quarter-final today, Al Arabi host Al Rayyan at 8pm. Al Rayyan is coming to the Amir Cup after a heartbreaking 4-6 loss on penalties to Al Sadd in the Qatar Cup semi-final. 
The tie-breaker was forced after the teams were tied 2-2 after regular time at the Al Sadd Stadium.
Michael Laudrup’s men had many positive results to show for their efforts in the league’s first phase, but they lost out on the title in the second phase. They were as inconsistent in a few matches as they were consistent in many.
Ahead of the Qatar Cup, they suffered a setback when their top scorer Abderrazaq Hamdallah was ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury. 
The Moroccan was the third best scorer in the QNB Stars League with 18 goals .
However, Al Rayyan have the likes of Rodrigo Tabata, Sebastian Soria, Mohamed Alaaeldin, Ahmed Yasser, Ahmed Abdelmaqsoud, Koh Myong-Jin, Mohsine Moutaouli and Daniel Goumou to deliver the goods. 
On the other hand, Al Arabi beat Al Wakrah 4-0 to reach the quarter-finals.