Duhail edge past Shamal to top Group B of Ooredoo Cup

Al Duhail beat Al Shamal 3-2 in the Round 5 clash at the Qatar University 4 Stadium yesterday to top Group B of the 2022-2023 season Ooredoo Cup. The win, Duhail’s fourth besides a draw, saw the Red Knights finish their group stage with 13 points.
Suhaib Gannan (15th minute), Michael Olunga (18th minute), and Youssef Ayman (75th minute) fetched the goals for Duhail, while Abdulrahman Rashid (53rd minute), and Amjad Atwan (58th minute) did so for Shamal.
Duhail will meet Al Sadd, who finished second from Group A, in the semi-finals. Al Arabi and Umm Salal are the other teams to have made it to the last four.
With nothing at stake, Shamal rallied to challenge Duhail after being down at 0-2 at halftime. While Suhaib Gannan opened the scoring for Duhail, soon after their Kenyan star Michael Olunga underlined his sterling form striking his 10th goal of the tournament. He continues to be the top-scorer with Sadd’s Baghdad Bounedjah being a distant second with 4 goals to his name.
Shamal battled to level scores in the second half with Rashid and Atwan producing goals. The match saw exciting moments before Ayman got the third and winning goal for Duhail. Duhail and Umm Salal (Group A) have been the only unbeaten sides in the group stage of the tournament.
Al Gharafa defeated Al Markhiya 3-1 in Group B clash at the Al Ersal 2 Stadium. Yousef Saeed (14th minute), Hassan Muayed (65th minute), and substitute Nasser Al Enazi (90+3’) were the goal-scorers for Al Gharafa, while Driss Fettouhi pulled one back for Al Markhiya in the 21st minute.
The win was Gharafa’s second positive result of the tournament. They also had two draw results and ended with 8 points to be third in Group B standings. Markhiya who failed to find a win finished sixth with 1 point.
Duhail, Al Rayyan, Al Arabi and Al Shamal were the other teams in Group B. Group A included Al Sadd, Al Wakrah, Umm Salal, Al Ahli, Qatar SC and Al Sailiya. Duhail (13 points), Arabi (10pts), Umm Salal (13pts), and Sadd (9pts) have made it to the semi-finals of the tournament.