Duhail hit Ahli for six, Rayyan claim much-needed victory

Al Duhail unleashed their attacking power yesterday with a 6-0 thrashing of Al Ahli in the QNB Stars League yesterday. The victory at the Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium breathed a fresh life into Red Knights title challenge.The former champions, with 25 points, are now three points behind leaders Al Sadd, who have played a game less. Duhail’s rout of Al Ahli started with a own goal by The Brigadiers’ Talal Behzad in the fourth minute. Then, Michael Olunga (seventh minute), Nam Tae-Hee (28th minute), Almoez Ali (44th minute), Abdullah Abdulsalam (71st minute) and Edmilson Junior (80th minute) found the net once each for Duhail.Luis Castro’s men had lost 1-2 to Umm Salal in the previous round, and this give victory game them a much-needed lift. Al Ahli, who had registered their first victory in the previous round with a 1-0 verdict over Al Sailiya, are 10th on nine points after their fourth defeat.Olunga and Edmison combined in a goalbound move and Behzad ended up putting the ball into his own net. Duhail increased their lead through Olunga, who sent in a rebound off Yazan Naim after the goalkeeper first blocked Nam’s shot.Ahli tried to organize their ranks and close the spaces, but Nam managed to score with a neat header following a cross from the right by Mohamed Alaaeldin who came in for Ismail Mohamed. Close to the end of first half, Almoez found the mark with assist from Nam.Duhail had a goal ruled out, after being referred to VAR, in the 57th minute. Al Duhail continued to dominate the match and scored twice more through Abdullah Abdulsalam and Edmilson.“We made our task easier by scoring early goals,” Al Duhail’s Assem Madbo said after the match yesterday. “We needed to show a strong performance after suffering defeat against Umm Salal and I am happy the way we have played today. We need to continue with this performance in the remaining season,” he added. Earlier at the Al Ahli Stadium, Laurent Blanc-coached Al Rayyan defeated Al Shamal 2-1, improving two places to 8th position with 12 points. Both The Lions goals were scored in the first half, with Hashem Ali (24’) and Yacine Brahimi (41’) on target. Al Shamal fought back with Muath Yahya’s goal in the 68th minute but Al Rayyan denied them an equaliser to claim much-needed three points in their quest for top-4 finish. Al Rayyan, however, could have scored another goal but Brahimi wasted a penalty in the 39th minute. Late in the match, Al Rayyan also saw their penalty denied by VAR.Meanwhile, fourth-placed Al Gharafa continued their impressive run in the QSL as they blanked Al Sailiya 3-0 at the Al Gharafa Stadium. Almahdi Ali scored the opener in 32nd minute with Ahmed Alaaeldin doubling the advantage for the home side three minutes later. Gabiel Perez completed the victory with a strike in 67th minute as Al Gharafa moved to 19 points with their sixth victory. It was eighth defeat for Al Sailiya, who are placed 11th in the standings. Al Sadd’s tie against Al Wakrah postponed The Qatar Stars League management yesterday postponed Al Sadd’s clash against depleted Al Wakrah today. The decision was taken after several of Wakrah players tested positive for coronavirus. The the new date for the match will be announced by the Competitions Committee.While Al Sadd are leading the standings, Al Wakrah are fifth on the table with 16 points.