Al Khor defeated Qatar SC 1-0 in the fifth round of the Ooredoo Cup at the Al Khor Stadium yesterday. Tiago Bezerra converted a penalty in the 71st minute as Al Khor topped the Group B with 13 points. Qatar SC stood second with 10 points.
The game’s interest was mainly to decide the group winners as both sides had progressed to the quarter-finals following their victories in the fourth round when Qatar SC defeated Al Duhail 1-0 and Al Khor put it across Al Sailiya 2-1. However, both teams showed offensive instincts and Qatar SC attacked more, with Sardor Rashidov and Abdulaziz Adel leading their charge. There were no serious attempts at the goal. Al Khor’s Mehdi Reza effected a goalline save off a shot from Rashidov when goalkeeper Faisal Abdulaziz had left his charge was the nearest attempt in the first half.
At the other end, Tiago and Ahmed Hammoudan tried hard, but could not get a breakthrough. Al Khor showed more alacrity in the second half and surged ahead in the 71st minute through Tiago’s penalty, awarded after he was fouled by Qatar SC captain Mohammed Salem.
Qatar SC goalkeeper Jassim al-Hail came off the field injured and was replaced by Abdelrahman Awad in the 79th minute. Rashidov came up with a powerful angular shot in stoppage time, only to be parried by the Al Khor goalkeeper.
In another match, Al Arabi and Al Duhail played out a 2-2 draw at the Al Shamal Stadium. Duhail took the lead as early as the second minute through Khaled Mohammed, but Al Arabi hit back through Mohamed Salem. Yousef Msakni put Al Duhail ahead again by scoring in the 49th minute, a lead that was nullified by Hamdi Harbaoui in the 73rd minute. Al Arabi moved on to seven points and finished third, behind Al Khor (13 points) and Qatar SC (10 points).
Al Duhail ended their campaign on three points and bowed out of the competition as Al Gharafa, who beat Al Sailiya 2-1 in the day’s another kick-off, became the fourth team to reach the knockout quarterfinals with five points.
Al Arabi had progressed to the quarterfinals following their 1-1 draw with Al Gharafa in the last round, alongside Al Khor and Qatar SC. Thus, Al Khor and Al Arabi became the only unbeaten teams in Group B.
Al Arabi’s only victory came against Al Sailiya (2-1). The Dream Team also drew their matches against Al Khor, Qatar SC and Al Gharafa, all by a 1-1 margin. Al Duhail drew two matches and lost three, and could not record a win in this season’s tournament. The Red Knights had played out 2-2 draws with Al Gharafa and Al Sailiya. Their defeats were against Al Khor (0-7) and Qatar SC (0-1).
Action from the fifth round Ooredoo Cup match between Al Khor and Qatar SC at the Al Khor Stadium yesterday. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed
