Yasen Abdallah’s 43rd minute turned out to be a winner as Al Duhail beat Qatar SC 1-0 in Round 4 of the Ooredoo Cup at the Qatar SC Stadium on yesterday. Al Duhail thus opened their account with their first victory in Group A, while Qatar SC stayed on four points.
Duhail had the first scoring chance in the match, when under-23 player Walid Othman, after finding a little open space near the Qatar SC box, fired a powerful shot that was palmed away by keeper Motasem Majed in the seventh minute.
In the 16th minute, Qatar SC’s Yusuf Ayman Farhat unleashed a stunning long-range shot that beat Duhail goalkeeper Ahmed Sofyan, but the ball narrowly missed the crossbar in first real threat from the men in yellow.
Five minutes later, Qatar SC skipper Mohamed Salem produced a similar shot from more or less the same distance. But this time, Sofyan was up to the mark and collected the ball with a short jump.
At the half-hour mark, Qatar SC’s Anthony Okpotu outpaced Duhail defender Mohamed Moosa, but Sofyan stepped out of his position to block the chip shot and kill the threatening move.
Seven minutes later, the Qatar SC captain could not head home from two metres on a free-kick taken from outside the Duhail box. As the half neared its end, Yasen swivelled past two defenders inside the Qatar SC box and quickly rifled a shot into the top of the net with keeper Motasem completely beaten by the pace of the shot.
Yusuf Aymen of Qatar SC was then given the marching orders for picking up two yellow cards, in a space of seven minutes.
In the 49th minute, Duhail’s Mohamed Emad brought down Okpotu inside his own box resulting in a penalty. But Okpotu missed the target from his spot kick, sending it beyond the goalpost to the right of the keeper.
In the 63rd minute, Qatar SC’s Nasser Ibrahim rifled a low shot past keeper Sufyan, but Duhail’s Emad standing on the goalline stuck his right leg out to deflect the ball.
In another match, a goal at the start of second half helped Al Sadd beat Al Khor at the Qatar SC Stadium. 
 Hashem Ali netted the winner in the 48th minute as Sadd registered their first win in the tournament. The Wolves have four points and Al Khor six.
In the fifth minute, Sadd’s Baha Mamdouh was shown the yellow card for a reckless push against Leonardo De Souza. Two minutes later, Al Khor’s Abdullah Mubarak, standing near the edge of the box, clipped a lobbed ball that narrowly missed the crossbar.
In the 12th minute, Rodrigo Tabata aimed for an over-ambitious long-range drive that sailed past the Al Khor goalpost. In the 34th minute, Al Khor’s De Souza produced a delicate quick tap from close to the Al Sadd goalmouth, but Talal Abdulla was in the right place at the right time to block the shot with only keeper Jehad Mohamed on the goalline.
Three minutes from the half-time whistle, Al Khor’s Yuki Kobayashi produced a curling shot off a free-kick that was palmed away by Sadd keeper Jehad Mohammed. 
Not long after the resumption of play, Sadd scored what turned out to be the only goal of the match.
After receiving a long pass a little distance away from the halfline, Ali, despite being marked by two Al Khor players, took the ball on his chest, quickly swivelled on his feet and fired a bullet to the right of keeper Ali Nader who could only see the ball crash into the net. Al Khor’s efforts for an equaliser did not fetch results.
In another Group A match, Al Wakrah and Al Sailiya played out a 2-2 draw. Sailiya goals came through Abdullah al-Marri and Thiago Pizarra in the 18th and 42nd minute respectively, while Jassim Ahmed scored a brace for Wakrah in 45th and 58th minute.