Arabi beat Muaither to enter Amir Cup semi-final

Al Arabi entered the semi-final of the 51st Amir Cup defeating Muaither 2-0 at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium on Saturday.
The Dream Team’s coach Younes Ali has egged his team to make the final of the prestigious tournament and they showed their intent with a strong show in the last-eight clash against the second division Muaither.
Rafinha put Al Arabi in the lead with a close range strike in the 12th minute picking on an assist from Omar Al Somah following a corner kick.
In the 64th minute, VAR ruled out another Al Arabi ‘goal’ with Helal Mohamed being offside.
Al Arabi’s Tunisian star Youssef Msakni then stepped up to round off the victory scoring from edge of the box in the 71st minute. The Dream Team clearly dominated the match and could have scored more goals as they took 11 shots on target.
Seeking to become the first second division side to reach the Amir Cup semis, Muaither also had their chances including a strike from Alaaeddine Ajaraie, but it was brilliantly saved by Al Arabi goalkeeper Jassim Adel al-Hail in 20th minute.
Newly-crowned Qatar Cup champions Al Duhail will take on Al Sailiya in the quarter-finals at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium today.
“It’s difficult to get out of the celebratory atmosphere after winning back-to-back trophies and this will be a test of mentality of my players. I am convinced about the capabilities of my players. We have relished good days after winning the Ooredoo Cup and the Qatar Cup and we are looking forward to continue winning the titles,” Al Duhail coach Hernan Crespo said yesterday.
Crespo’s first season as coach of Al Duhail could not have gone much better, with the former Argentina striker still on course for a domestic quadruple after clinching a second trophy in the space of 10 days.
Al Duhail defeated arch rivals Al Sadd 2-0 on Thursday to win the Qatar Cup final, after winning the Qatar Stars cup on March 28 with a 1-0 victory over Umm Salal.
Al Duhail are also top of the QNB Stars League, two points ahead of closest rivals Al Arabi with a game in hand with a month remaining in the season.
Al Sailiya coach Mirghani al-Zain is also upbeat about their match against in-form Duhail.
“I am taking this quarter-final as my first training experience as a head coach. We must give our best possible performance against an in-form team,” al-Zain said.
“The situation is different in these tournaments than the league. Al Duhail at the moment is a team to beat and playing them this time is a huge challenge but we will try to give a strong show against them,” he said.