Almoez Ali scored a brace as Al Duhail defeated Al Rayyan 4-0 in the Ooredoo Stars League at the Khalifa International Stadium on Friday. Ali’s goals came in the 47th and 77th minutes, respectively, after Edmilson Junior had opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Al Rayyan’s Andre Amaro also scored an own goal in the 65th minute, as Al Duhail maintained their 100 percent record in the league with the maximum six points from two matches played so far.
Al Rayyan, who defeated Umm Salal 3-1 in the opening round, on the other hand, remain on three points. As expected of a match of such status, the two teams began on a cautious note, with nothing much separating them as they weighed each other up, with the goalkeepers having next to nothing to do in the first ten minutes of the encounter.
Al Duhail’s Luis Alberto was the first to test Al Rayyan’s goalkeeper Fahad Younes in the 11th minute with a 25-yard low shot, but the 30-year-old Qatari shot stopper had no problems handling the Spanish attacking midfielder’s attempt.
Eight minutes later, The Red Knights took the lead through Edmilson, who finished off a sublime pass by Alberto, following a blunder in the midfield by Rodrigo Moreno, who, in an attempt to make a back pass, miscued the ball into the waiting legs of the Spaniard. Alberto had a measured and timely run before teeing off the ball to the Brazilian winger to blast home to the delight of their teeming fans.
The goal appeared to galvanize The Lions into action as they went in search of an equalizer, but without any immediate success. Moreno had an opportunity at redemption in the 42nd minute, but his low but powerful outside-of-the-box strike narrowly grazed the near post on its way out as a stretched goalkeeper Salah Zakaria made a finger-tip save.
The lone goal from Edmilson became the only difference between the two sides as the first 45 minutes came to an interesting end. A shoddy defending from Al Rayyan, two minutes into the second half, left Al Duhail’s captain Ali clearly unmarked, and the Qatari international wasted no time in slotting home from an overhead pass by Homam Ahmed to double the lead for coach Christophe Galtier’s team.
Undaunted by the setback, Al Rayyan maintained their composure as they attempted to minimize the damage as they pressed hard against their opponents, who brilliantly soaked up the pressure while springing occasional counterattacks in a bid to extend their lead.
Goalkeeper Zakaria was again called into action by Moreno in the 60th minute, and the Qatari international rose up to the action as he saved the obviously goal-bound strike from the Al Rayyan forward. Ali had a chance to double his tally in the 62nd minute, as he was well-placed to slot in the rebound from Alberto’s strike, but his shot went narrowly wide.
The Red Knights did not have to wait for too long to make it three as an own goal from Amaro, from a set-piece situation, put paid to that three minutes later to the disappointment of both the bench and stands of The Lions.
Ismail Mohamed had a great opportunity to make it 4-0 for Al Duhail in the 74th minute, but his shot went wide from a very advantageous position. Three minutes later, Ali’s powerful header, from a corner kick by Alberto, was just too hot for goalkeeper Younes to handle as the ball effortlessly sailed into the net to give Al Duhail an unassailable lead.
The fourth goal literally took the wind off the sails of the Al Rayyan side as they were mostly pegged into their own half for the remainder of the match.
Umm Salal edge past Shamal
In another match on Friday, Umm Salal prevailed over Al Shamal 3-2 in a fiercely-contested match at the Al Janoub Stadium.
It was the first win of the league championship for The Orange Fortress and the first loss for Al Shamal, who had shocked defending champions Al Sadd in the opening round. Captain Victor Lekhal scored a brace for Umm Salal (seventh and 28th minute), while Antonio Mance added the third goal for his team in the 46th minute. Al Shamal’s goals came through Baghdad Bounedjah (81st-minute penalty and 90+7 minute).
Umm Salal seized an early initiative as Khalaf Saad broke through from the right and provided a cross for Lekhal to reach for with a stretched right leg and the half bicycle sort of kick deceived goalkeeper Babacar Seck to his right.
Al Shamal tried to retaliate in the 10th minute, but a Bounedjah header was staved off by Umm Salal goalkeeper Loukay Sherif’s long stretched left hand.
Umm Salal dealt a second blow soon and from a free-kick. Oussama Tannane, who took the kick from about 20 yards outside the box on the left, sent in a perfect ball for Lekhal to find while breaking away from the pack on extreme right. The unmarked Lekhal headed-in strongly and the ball hit the inside of the crossbar before rocketing in. Soon after the half-time break, Umm Salal added more to the rivals’ plight.
This time, Tannane had the Al Shamal defence caught in a cat-and-mouse game as he beat three defenders to pass the ball to Lekhal to score with his left foot into the left corner (3-0). Al Shamal tried to make amends, but all their attempts kept getting foiled by the strong defence of Umm Salal.
Three minutes later, Al Shamal again attempted a breakthrough, but this time Faisal Azadi’s strike was cut off by goalkeeper in front of the left post. Al Shamal finally had reward for their efforts in the 81st minute winning a penalty after Fahad Waad was brought down inside the danger area by Khalaf Saad.
Bounedjah made no mistake from the spot and Al Shamal made it 1-3. With time now running out, Al Shamal continued to attack and succeeded a second time in dying minutes of added time, with substitute Omar Mohamed breaking in from the right to provide Bounedjah with an assist to score (2-1).
Al Shamal had 68 per cent possession of the ball in the match, while Umm Salal were more precise both in their attack and defence.
