Dominant Duhail ease past Sailiya to set up semi vs Sadd

Al Duhail set up a mouthwatering Amir Cup semi-final against arch-rivals Al Sadd after sailing past Al Sailiya 4-0 in the quarter-finals yesterday. It was a dominant performance by the Red Knights at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, while Sailiya arguably played their worst match of the season.
Duhail had beaten Sadd to win the Amir Cup last year, before the latter avenged their loss in the Qatar Cup final this season. The semi-final clash at Amir Cup between two of the biggest clubs in Qatar should be nothing short of fireworks.
Going by Duhail’s performance last night, the QNB Stars League leaders will fancy their chances against Sadd, who needed a penalty shoot-out win over Al Wakrah on Friday to book a place in the semis. The other last four encounter pits Al Arabi against second division side Al Markhiya, who stunned Al Rayyan.
Edmilson Junior was the star of the show for Duhail yesterday, creating havoc for Sailiya’s defence. Duhail should have been 2-0 up inside the first 10 minutes but Mohamed Muntari and Almoez Ali were poor in front of goal, failing to take advantage of Edmilson’s pin point cross from the left hand side.
Edmilson himself put Duhail ahead in the 24th minute as the Belgian forward converted a penalty after Sailiya’s Mostafa Mohamed Abdelha handled the ball in the box. Karim Boudiaf and Muntari spurned easy opportunities to increase the lead as Duhail went into half-time with one-goal lead.
Just 30 seconds after the break, Edmilson had a chance to double the lead but took too long to shoot and was crowded by Sailiya defenders. The second goal arrived in the 49th with Abdulla al-Ahrak scoring a stunner from outside the box.
It was all over for Sailiya, when Almoez found the net in the 52nd minute. Abdulrahman Mohamed piled on the misery for Peregrines with a 66th minute strike. Duhail midfielder Boudiaf was pleased with his team’s show and was looking forward to the semi-final against Sadd.
“We are very happy to play in the semis against Sadd. We have taken another step closer to winning the Amir Cup again and I hope we play well against Sadd. We have a good team and are playing at good level. The last time (at Qatar Cup) Sadd played better than us but hopefully this time it will come out as winners,” said Boudiaf.
Sailiya’s Serigne Mbodji said his team didn’t deserve to win and lamented the second half performance. “It’s was a very difficult match for us. The way we played in the second half was bad. If you are playing the leaders of the league you need to try and not give any chance, and but we were very poor in the second half,” the Senegalese defender said.
“We didn’t deserve to win, Duhail did. We gave them some easy chances and they capitalised on it. In the first half we played better, tried to play between the lines. I think the biggest change in our performance was our mentality. We played without desire and honour. When you play against Duhail you have to give everything,” Mbodji added.