Al Sadd’s Nam Tae-Hee vies for the ball against two Al Shahaniya players at the Al Shamal Stadium yesterday. Picture: Twitter / @AlsaddSC
Doha: Al Ahli and Al Wakrah clinched victories and booked their berths in the next round of the Ooredoo Cup yesterday. Al Rayyan, despite losing to Al Wakrah yesterday, will also join their Group A counterparts in the last eight stage of the tournament.
In yesterday’s round 4 match, Al Ahli clinched a 2-1 win against Al Shahaniya at the Saud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium in Al Wakrah yesterday and jumped to the top of the table with nine points. They have three wins under their belt and have lost only one match.
Al Shahania scored in the 63rd minute through a penalty by Nigel de Jong. Al Ahli bounced back with two quick goals (88th and 90th minutes), scored by Majid Mohammed and Abel Matthews respectively.
Meanwhile, Al Wakrah secured the second spot in the standings after beating Al Rayyan 1-0 at the Al Khor Stadium.
Mohamed Benyettou scored the winning goal in the 54th minute to give Al Wakrah the win which also lifted their points tally to eight as Al Rayyan slumped to the third spot.
Al Rayyan had earlier defeated Al Shahaniya 3-0 and Al Ahli 4-1 before sharing points with Umm Salal following a two-all draw.
Al Wakrah stunned Al Sadd with a 5-1 win on the opening round, drew their next two matches against Umm Salal and Al Shahaniya.
Yesterday’s match saw Al Rayyan players trying hard against the Al Wakrah attack in the first half in which both sides failed to score.
Al Wakrah’s Mohamed Abdulrahman tested Al Rayyan goalkeeper Saoud Al Hajri and the latter blocked the shot with ease. After barely a minute, Al Wakrah’s Meshaal Abdullah narrowly hit wide from an acute angle at the near post. Then, it was the turn of Al Rayyan’s Naif Al Hadhami to shoot wide from close.
Meshaal again missed the target with a header as the first half drew to a close.
Al Wakrah made a couple of substitutions at the start of second half, with Jassim Al Jalabi replacing Meshaal and Abdulrahman Mohammed coming in for Adel Alawi.
Al Wakrah went ahead through Benyettou, who volleyed the ball home. They nearly doubled the lead in the 66th minute, but no player was on hand to stab home a measured cross from the left by Mohammed Abdulrahman.
Even though Al Wakrah were the better side on view overall, Al Rayyan tried hard as the match progressed, but could not cross the hurdle, where Hassan Idriss was the last line of defence.
Al Wakrah’s Faisal Abdullah had a goal ruled offside in the 88th minute. Then, in stoppage time, Abdulrahman Mosed too had a goal disallowed.
In the third match of the day, Al Sadd and Al Shahaniya shared points after a four-goal thriller at the Al Shamal Stadium.
Al Sadd’s goals came from Moustafa Mashaal in the 54th minute and Baghdad Bounedjah in the 75th minute, with Umm Salal getting on the scoresheet through Yannick Sagbo in the 60th minute and Ilyas Brimil in the 67th minute.
With both sides stuttering for form in this season’s Ooredoo Cup, it was no surprise that a cagey first half ensued as neither team grabbed the initiative early on.
It took until 10 minutes into the second half for the first goal when Moustafa got his side ahead.
Umm Salal were quick to recover from the setback and turned the game around shortly after. The ever-present threat of Yannick Sagbo levelled the scores before Brimil gave his side a lead just seven minutes later.
Umm Salal were unable to secure their first Ooredoo Cup win of the season when Bounedjah scored to get his side on level terms, which turned out to be a crucial goal as the teams settled for a point.
The remaining one seat in the last eight stage for Group A will be resolved at the end of the fifth and final round.
