Duhail aim for unprecedented domestic treble

Al Duhail will be gunning for an unprecedented domestic treble when they face Al Rayyan in the Amir Cup final, which will kick-off at 10:15pm tonight.
Duhail have been unstoppable this season, having won the QNB Stars League and Qatar Cup title, and they will be heavy favourites to clinch their third trophy as curtains come down on Qatar’s domestic football season at the Khalifa International Stadium.
There is a touch of invincibility in the way Duhail have gone about their business so far. They have been unbeaten in the season, having not lost a match in any of the tournaments they have played.
Djamel Belmadi’s side are also in line to win the AFC Champions League after they cruised into the quarter-finals on Tuesday. They have showed their prowess in the continental championship too when they became only the second team to open their campaign with seven successive wins.
On Tuesday, they overpowered Al Ain at home to make it eight wins in a row, with an 8-3 aggregate win over UAE Champions surely making them a strong contender for the Asian title.
At home, Duhail have raised the bar and much of that credit goes to Belmadi, who has marshalled his team efficiently. So it wasn’t surprising to see the Algerian being voted as the best coach at the Qatar Football Association’s (QFA) awards ceremony on Thursday night.
The 42-year-old is a shrewd tactician, who has consistently been producing excellent results. His method has been keeping it simple and not complicating things, with Duhail’s game revolving around one-two touches and playing with speed.
Belmadi made it big when he led Qatar to the Gulf Cup triumph in 2014 and has not looked back since then. He also enjoyed as much success with Lekhwiya, whom he led to four league titles before it was merged with El Jaish last year and Duhail was created.
His players too have responded to him by playing some spectacular football, and were duly rewarded as Duhail players swept the QFA awards.
Captain Youssef Msakni won the Player of the Year Award, while Qatar’s talented youngsters Almoez Ali was named the Best U-23 Player. Their teammate Youssef El Arabi had his hand on top scorer trophy after he amassed 26 goals in the season.
Tonight, Al Rayyan will have a difficult task on their hand as they look to stop the formidable Duhail strike force. Msakni will sit out of the Amir Cup final, with the attacking midfielder recuperating from cruciate ligament knee surgery he underwent in the USA last week, which also ruled the Tunisian out of the World Cup next month.
But they have enough quality in their line-up to trouble Al Rayyan defence. Apart from Almoez and El Arabi, Duhail have South Korean playmaker Nam Tae-Hee, which has been outstanding so far in the midfield. He has been instrumental in Duhail success, creating goals for his teammates.
In the Amir Cup semi-final against Al Sadd, Tae-Hee was the man of the match as he guided Duhail to fourth win of the season against their arch-rivals and into the Amir Cup final.
Belmadi, while acknowledging that his team is having a special season, called on his high-flying players to focus on the final and take Rayyan seriously. “Rayyan are a difficult opposition. They have not won anything this season and will have opportunity to so tomorrow. This will give them a huge motivation,” Belmadi said yesterday
He singled out Rayyan’s attacking midfielder Rodrigo Tabata’s as a major threat, but showed confidence in his players. “We will try to be well organised and have a good balance in the team. We know they have good players like Tabata who can score goals,” he said. 
“But until now we have played good teams with good players and have done well so far. For example, Al Ain scored lots of goals at home and also in the AFC Champions League, but we beat then easily. We will take Rayyan very seriously. But we are confident and will go into the game with focus,” he added.
For last year’s finalist Rayyan, tonight’s title clash will be an opportunity to finish the otherwise disappointing season on a high. Michael Laudrup’s men went down to Al Sadd in the final last year, and face another daunting challenge against Duhail.
After a promising start to their QNB Stars League campaign, Rayyan fizzled out in the second phase as they stuttered to a third-place finish. They also suffered a heartbreaking 4-6 loss on penalties to Al Sadd in the Qatar Cup semi-final.
Laudrup wants his players to put the setbacks of the season behind and produce performance worthy of a final.
“We have prepared well for the final. It’s the last game of the season and it’s a final, so we want to give out all. There are no matches next week or week after, so we want to finish on a high. We did not concede any goals in the Amir Cup so far and that augurs well for us,” Laudrup said yesterday.
Rayyan have been in impressive in the Amir Cup though. Tabata’s brace powered them to a 3-0 win over Al Gharafa in the semis, after they had won with a similar scoreline in a dominating performance against Al Arabi in the quarter-finals.
Tabata has been at the heart of Rayyan’s performance so far, and they will depend heavily on the midfielder again. His partnership with Sebastian Soria will hold to key fortunes.
Last year’s loss to Al Sadd is still fresh in Tabata’s mind and he wants to end the season on a happy note. “It was disappointing to lose in the final last season. We hope for a better result tomorrow. We have worked very hard in the last few weeks and that gives us confidence that we can win the title,” said Tabata.