Duhail beat Al Khor to set up semi-final against Wakrah

Al Duhail booked their place in the semi-finals of the QSL Cup after defeating Al Khor 2-1 at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium yesterday. The Red Knights will face Al Wakrah, who secured their last four berth after beating Al Ahli 3-1 at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium.
Al Duhail’s goals were scored by Ibrahima Diallo (18th minute) and Mohammed Emad Aiash (65th minute), while Al Khor’s lone was scored brilliant’s by Adil Rhaili in the 80th minute. Duhail, the top-placed team from Group A, were expectedly the dominant side from the start and unsurprisingly drew first blood. Diallo, whose powerful angle shot, after some sublime interchange between the trio of Benjamin Bourigeaud, Abdullah al-Ahrak and the goal scorer caught Al Khor goalkeeper Ali Nader Mahmoud somewhat by surprise as he could only watch the blazing shot sailing past him into the net.
Al Khor almost got their equalizer in the 43rd minute after some splendid moves by Sofiane Hanni, who got past four of Al Duhail’s defence before setting up Salmin Atiq to finish off, but the Qatari player disappointedly blasted wide. Al Duhail started the second half from where they stopped, with goalkeeper Ali Nader having to come off his line to make a daring save in the 52nd minute with Al Duhail’s Under-17 player Mohannad Jamil Babli in a good stead to fire home a goal.
With Al Duhail’s relentless bombardment of Al Khor’s goal, it was soon a matter of time before another goal was scored and this came about in the 65th minute with Aiash nodding home from close range a cross from Bourigeaud as Al Duhail went two goals up.
Atiq wasted arguably Al Khor’s best chance of the night in the 79th minute when he found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Bautista Burke only for him to waste the sitter, shooting straight into the goalkeeper’s arms.
One minute later, Rhaili scored an undisputed goal-of-the-tournament contender with his superb long-range shot from the centreline that caught Burke offguard. Despite a late rally from Al Khor, Al Duhail maintained their stand as they advanced into the semifinals with their 2-1 victory.
Later, Al Wakrah eased past Ahli thanks to goals from Ayoub Assal (35th minute), Farid Boulaya (45+3 minute) and Ricardo Gomes (80th minute). Erik Exposito scored The Brigadiers’ only goal in the 37th minute.
Al Ahli came very close to scoring the opening goal in the 12th minute when Driss Fettouhi rattled the crossbar with his powerful free-kick, while Oumar Sekou missed a great opportunity to put The Brigadiers ahead in the 19th minute after missing an obvious sitter, shooting wide, from a perfect set-up by Bahaa Ellethy.
After a series of back and forth from both sides, Assal gave Al Wakrah the lead in the 35th minute, skirting away past three Al Ahli defenders before unleashing a powerful right-footed shot that located the top right-hand corner of the goal.
The lead only lasted two minutes as Al Ahli got parity restored through Exposito, who brilliantly nodded home a corner kick. With the match appearing to head for a stalemated first half, Boulaya got Al Wakrah’s lead back with the last kick of the half, riffling home from 30 yards out with a thunderous shot that goalkeeper Yazan Naim’s outstretched hand could not manage to touch.
Al Ahli thought they got the equalizer in the 58th minute through Fettouhi, but the goal was ruled offside, to the disappointment of the Al Ahli players, who protested the decision but to no effect.
Gomes made it three for Al Wakrah in the 80th minute after getting on the end of a through pass by Khalid Muneer, who took advantage of a midfield error by Al Ahli to give an inch-perfect pass to the Cape Verdean international to consolidate their lead.
Despite a relentless late-minute drive from Al Ahli, the situation, however, remained the same as Al Wakrah maintained their lead.