• Al Gharafa beat Shamal 2-0, Boli brace fires 10-man Rayyan to 2-2 draw vs Umm Salal
Al Gharafa launched the 2021-2022 QNB Stars League season with a commanding 2-0 win over Al Shamal at the Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday.
In the second match at the same venue, a double strike by Yohan Boli ensured a 10-man Al Rayyan shared points with Umm Salal in a 2-2 draw.
Yassin Bakhit had put Umm Salal 1-0 in the eighth minute when he grabbed the ball inside the box off a defensive lapse and scored past Rayyan’s Fahad Younis Baker.
Four minutes into the second half, Franck Kom was sent off and six minutes later Brazilian forward Isael beat the offside trap to double Umm Salal’s lead.
Boli scored his first in the 74th minute off a free kick from outside the box, slotting the ball in the top right corner, before scoring a second 11 minutes later off a loose ball from top of the box in front of the goal.
Earlier in the day, Ahmed al-Janehi (20th minute) opened the scoring for Al Gharafa. Maintaining good ball possession, The Cheetahs doubled the lead when Moyad Hassan found the net in the 33rd minute.
The match got off to a fast pace with Al Gharafa dictating the proceedings.
After a few missed opportunities, in the 20th minute, Sofiane Hanni, after receiving a long cross, found al-Janehi with a low flick. Al-Janehi was quick to shoot the ball into the net from close range.
In the 32nd minute, Al Gharafa doubled the lead when Hassan slipped in a low shot that beat a defender and keeper Idriss.
Al Shamal lifted their game in the second half. A little after the hour-mark, Jeison Escobar charged into the Al Gharafa box, but his fierce shot deflected off the leg of keeper Yousef Haasan.
Ten minutes later, Al Shamal skipper Faisal found the net with a shot from inside the net, but the effort was ruled offside by assistant referee.
At Al Khor Stadium, Qatar SC played out a goalless draw with Al Ahli.
Holders Sadd open QSL campaign against Sailiya
By Sports Reporter
Doha
Defending champions Al Sadd open their QSL campaign with a face-off against Al Sailiya at Al Gharafa Stadium at 8:20pm.
At the end of last season, Al Sadd had announced the renewal of coach Xavi Hernandez’s contract for two more seasons. In his second season (2020-2021) in charge of Al Sadd, Xavi had won the award for the best coach and guided Al Sadd to the league title. They were the only team to remain unbeaten, topping the table with 60 points from 22 matches, winning 19 and drawing three.
Despite occupying the ninth place in the league last season, Al Sailiya were able to finish the season well by winning the Ooredoo Cup, their first major trophy.
“We are really excited and happy for the start of the new season. The resumption of the new league is always a sign of happiness. We won everything last season. This new season will be really difficult, but we will try our best to make all of our fans happy. We will try our best to win all the domestic titles again,” Xavi said at a pre-match press conference.
“Al Sailiya are a very good team. We have to remember that they won two championships last season. Their coach Sami Trabelsi has been working at the club for many years. This is the reason for the good work done by Al Sailiya and it will be difficult to face him.”
Tunisian Trabelsi, who has been with the club for ninth straight season, said, “I have a great ambition to win titles. Every coach aspires to achieve titles with his team, but we must be realistic and we still do not have the tools that could make us talk with confidence about competing for the title. We have quality players on the bench who can make the difference. We have players who can make a big impact.”
Al Sadd coach Xavi and Al Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi (right).
