Shahania stun Duhail as Ahli ease past Shamal

Al Shahania on Friday shocked points leaders Al Duhail 2-1 to register their first win of Ooredoo Stars League 2024-25 season at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
The star for Al Shahania in round 6 was Dutch midfielder Pelle van Amersfoort who struck in the 21st and 32nd minutes of the match.
For Al Duhail, Kenyan striker Michael Olunga pulled one back in the 75th minute but the Red Knights could not find the elusive equaliser despite raising much heat on the rivals.
It was Al Duhail’s first loss of the season. For Al Shahania it was a great morale-boosting maiden win during which they showed superb capabilities both in attack and defence.
Van Amersfoort exposed frailties in Al Duhail’s defence as he first moved from the left making foray before striking a long ranger that beat a diving goalkeeper into the left corner.
The Dutchman returned to haunt Al Duhail a second time when he found a Francesco Antonucci long ball inside right of the danger area. Left much unmarked, Amersfoort volleyed the ball into the net.
A 2-0 hill then appeared quite a task for Al Duhail as Al Shahania kept breaking down their attacks.
While at the start, in the 10th minute Al Duhail were a bit unlucky when an Olunga header skimmed over the crossbar, but in the 34th minute and 42nd minutes an Ismail Mohamed and Junior Edmilson header were cut off by Al Shahania goalkeeper Shehab Mamdouh Ellethy.
Al Duhail kept attacking but failed to find the target as in the 53rd minute Olunga shot wide left.
In the 58th minute, Al Shahania’s Alhassan Korma missed a powerful hit to the left of the post.
Olunga eventually succeeded for Al Duhail when he connected an Edmilson Junior’s long kick into the right corner of the goal.
An Al Duhail comeback now seemed on the cards but Al Shahania sandbagged in defence superbly, giving no space for the Red Knights to force their way.
Al Shahania intermittently also kept making counter-attacks as the match continued at a fast pace till the end of seven minutes of stoppage time.
In the end, it was a well-deserved victory for Al Shahania, who now have 5 points in their kitty to be in 10th place. Al Duhail, despite the loss, stay on top with 15 points.
The league now goes into an international break with Week 7 matches resuming on October 18th.

Al Ahli beat Al Shamal 4-2
Al Ahli on Friday came from a goal down to beat Al Shamal 4-2 at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Goals from Idrissa Doumbia (40th minute), Oumar Sekou (53rd minute penalty) and Abdulrahman Mohammed (69th minute) plus an own goal from Mohammed Musa in the 61st minute gave ‘The Brigadiers’ the win, while Al Shamal got the first goal of the match through Jeison Murillo in the 15th minute before captain Baghdad Bounedjah scored from the spot in the 78th minute.
Al Ahli have now extended their points tally to 14, while Al Shamal remained on seven points with the result.
Al Shamal, who had clearly been the better side in the opening minutes of the game, eventually got their goal in the 15th minute after Jeison Murillo’s header from the centre of the box bounced off the crossbar before hitting the back of goalkeeper Badreldin on its way in.
Just when it seems the pendulum of the game was swinging in favour of Al Shamal, a defensive error resulted in The Brigadiers getting their equalizer in the 40th minute through Idrissa Doumbia, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the box found the top corner of the net after being put through by Julian Draxler to ensure the match stayed even going into the half-time break.
Sekou got the lead for Al Ahli from the spot in the 53rd minute after they were awarded a penalty kick and that was ratified by a lengthy VAR check following a foul by Al Shamal’s Mohammed Musa in the 47th minute.
Eight minutes later, things turned from bad to worse for Musa, who caused the penalty a few minutes earlier, as he turned the ball into his own net while attempting to clear Abdulrahman Mohammed’s cross to give Al Ahli a comfortable 3-1 lead.
Abdulrahman Mohammed, who had been a thorn in the flesh of Al Shamal for most part of the second half, eventually got his name on the scorers’ sheet and made it 4-1 for Al Ahli in the 69th minute after finishing a fast break with a left-footed shot that landed in the bottom left-hand corner of Al Shamal’s goal. Bounedjah’s well-taken penalty helped reduce the deficit for Al Shamal in the 78th minute after the VAR confirmed that the former Al Sadd player and now Al Shamal captain was fouled by Al Ahli’s Amin Tihi in the 75th minute.

Qatar SC draw with Umm Salal
A brace from Ben Malango, including a last-gasp equaliser, saw Qatar SC make a fighting comeback to hold Umm Salal to a 2-2 draw at the Al Janoub Stadium on Friday.