Arabi, Umm Salal aim for maiden Ooredoo Cup title

Umm Salal and Al Arabi will be eyeing their maiden Ooredoo Cup title, when the two sides meet in the final at the Grand Hamad Stadium today at 7pm.
The contest is expected to be feisty with both the teams playing their third finals, having ended up as the runners-up twice each. While Umm Salal had made it to the finals of Ooredoo Cup earlier in 2011 season and last year, Al Arabi were in the final in 2013 and 2020. Umm Salal made it the title clash with a 2-0 win over Al Ahli in the semi-final. The Orange Fortress had lost by a solitary goal to Al Duhail the previous season and having reached the final for a second successive time, they would surely want to taste success.
In contrast, Al Arabi qualified for the final prevailing over Qatar SC in the semis on penalties after the game was locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
Coach Younes Ali, who guided Al Arabi to the Amir Cup triumph last season, said his team are ready for the final. “Since you have reached the final, you have to win it,” Ali said. “Umm Salal are a distinguished team and they have been playing good matches since the beginning of the season, especially in the Ooredoo Cup. They are one of the teams we thought would make it to the final. I think it is 50-50 in the final,” he added.
Arabi will be without the injured trio of Yousef Msakni, Marco Verratti and Abdou Diallo.
They will also miss the services of Jassim Jaber and Ahmed Fathi, who are in Qatar’s squad for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup.
Ali will rely on Syrian striker Omar al-Somah, Brazilian Rafinha, Helal Mohamed, Nasser Kalla and Youssef Muftah among others. Umm Salal coach Patrice Carteron expected a ‘challenging’ contest.
“We face Al Arabi in the final who won the Amir Cup last season and are one of the top teams that performs very well. It will make the final contest challenging, but I have great confidence in our team’s ability to win the title,” Umm Salal coach Patrice Carteron said. “We need to stay focused in the final, but play freely from the very start as we did in the semi-final. But the final will not be easy at all,” he added.
Umm Salal attack will be by Algerian striker Andy Delort, who has scored seven goals in the tournament so far, as well as Marouane Loudani, Victor Lakhel, Nasser al-Nasr and Adel Alawi among others.