Al Arabi SC players celebrate their win over Al Khor in the Amir Cup Round of 16 match at Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday.
Al Markhiya SC stunned Al Gharafa 1-0 while Al Arabi SC made a splendid turnaround to down Al Khor 4-3 in penalties to advance to the quarter-finals of the Amir Cup.
In the Al Markhiya-Al Gharafa clash at Al Gharafa Stadium, Aden Ali put Al Markhiya SC in the lead in the 63rd minute of a defensive lapse, The striker latched on to a loose ball which came off goalkeeper Qasem Burhan to put his team ahead.
Thereafter, Al Markhiya warded off the late challenge and kept the marauding Al Gharafa strikers at bay to move into the next stage of the tournament.
Yesterday in the first match of the day at Al Gharafa SC, Al Arabi and Al Khor were locked 2-2 all at the end of full time play.
At one point of time Al Arabi were trailing by two goals but covered a lot of ground to draw level and take the match into the penalty shoot-out, winning the shootout at 4-3.
Two second half substitutions proved crucial for Heimir Halgrimmsson's side - striker Hamdi Harbaoui and keeper Mahmoud Abunada
Harbaoui scored the equaliser, while Abunada made the decisive saves in the shootout
Both the teams took time to settle down and Al Khor appeared more pronounced in their attacks in the first quarter of the match.
Their efforts bore fruit in the 14th minute when Tiago Queiroz Bezerra who was brought down by Al Khor goalkeeper converted the resulting spot kick to give Al Khor the lead.
Down by a goal Al Arabi pressed hard for the equaliser and during this period they came up with several threatening moves.
Thrice they came to breaking open the Al Khor defense, on the first occasion Lasogga Pierre Michelle shot from close range was deflected by Al Khor keeper Baba Djibril Kane. Thereafter, Al Arabi Under-23 player Yusuf Abdurisag Yusuf fumbled at the finish twice first shooting tamely into the waiting hands of the keeper and on the second occasion shooting wide.
Al Khor almost made it 2-0 in the 26th minute but a second spot kick decision in favour of Al Khor was changed after a VAR review as it was found that one of the Al Khor received the ball in an off side position.
Al Arabi again came close to drawing level at the stroke of halftime but Al Khor keeper Gomis rose to the occasion to deny Michelle.
Al Khor celebrated the escape with a second goal. Naif Mubarak Al Buriki scored from a dead ball situation placing himself well in an ideal situation to head home a flag kick.
Al Khor thus went into the half time break leading 2-0.
In the second half, Al Arabi showed more urgency in their attacks and came up with varied attacks to keep al Khor defense guessing.
Al Arabi however had to wait till the 73rd minute to get their first goal and they followed it up by adding a second one a minute later.
First, Michelle scored from the penalty given after a VAR review to make it 2-1
And then, the second goal arrived just a minute later - second half substitute Harbaoui taking advantage of a defensive slip to fire in a thunderbolt to make it 2-2.
Al Arabi goaded by two quick goals were all over the Al Khor territory but were not able to add more goals.
With the teams locked at two-all the tie breaker system was applied.
In the penalty shoot out, Al Arabi substitute keeper Abunada did a remarkable job of saving two kicks in the penalty shoot out and although Michelle missed Al Arabi’s third kick, Mohamed Salah Elneel and Aron Einar Malmquist converted the subsequent ones to take Al Arabi into the quarter-finals.
On Friday, Al Ahli overcame the challenge of Qatar SC 2-1 while Al Wakrah edged Al Shahania 10-9 in sudden death to qualify for the next stage of the tournament, while on Thursday defending champions Al Duhail and Al Sadd marched into the quarter-finals.
Al Duhail gave new coach Walid Regragui his first victory in Qatar with a 4-0 thumping over second division side Muaither SC, while Al Sadd thrashed Al Kharaitiyat 3-1 to advance to the next stage.
On Wednesday, a brace from Yohan Boli and goals from Khaled Muftah and Rodrigo Tabata helped Al Rayyan coast to an emphatic 4-0 win over second division side Mesaimeer and advance to the quarter-finals.
Also making their way into the last eight stage were Al Sailiya who defeated Umm Salal 2-1.
