No stopping Al Sadd as QNB Stars League action resumes
Al Sailiya edge Gharafa 1-0; Al Khor beat Kharaitiyat 2-1
RUNAWAY leaders Al Sadd continued with their winning streak as the QNB Stars League 2020-21 season action resumed following the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020 break on Saturday.
Al Sadd affirmed their super form thumping Al Ahli 3-0 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium with Baghdad Bounedjah (23rd minute), Boualem Khoukhi (26th) and substitute Tarek Salman (88th) getting the goals.
It was Al Sadd’s 14th victory, the most by any team.
The Wolves also kept their unbeaten streak in tact, the only team to do so thus far in this season’s championship.
Al Sadd (44 points from 16 matches) now have a 16-point lead over reigning champions Al Duhail, who will face Al Rayyan on Sunday.
Al Ahli remained on 23 points (placed sixth) following their seventh loss. They had lost to Al Sadd by a 1-7 margin in the first leg.
Al Sadd were up by two goals going into the half-time break with 64 per cent of the ball. Both goals came through moves along the left flank.
Bounedjah opened the scoring with a quick placing shot, with Nam Tae-Hee giving him the assist.
Defender Khoukhi doubled the advantage three minutes later by heading in Santi Cazorla’s free-kick.
Even as Al Sadd dominated possession, Al Ahli made intermittent moves. One such raid saw Hernan Perez’s shot, off a Nabil El Zhar low cross from the right in the 34th minute, being cleared for a corner. Mohammed Diame came up with a chip shot off the resultant corner kick and it hit the crossbar.
Al Sadd continued to attack in the second half and
Guilherme Torres came close in the 69th minute, but his shot on the run went narrowly wide of the left upright.
Both teams made substitutions and Al Ahli captain Omid Ebrahimi, substitute Ali Ghaderi and Hernan all showed greater desire for a breakthrough, which never came.
Al Sadd added the third goal when Tarek, who came off the bench after 70 minutes, made the most of another substitute Salem Al Hajri’s pass following Cazorla’s corner kick.
Al Sailiya setback for Gharafa
In another exciting match of the evening at the Qatar Sports Club stadium, Al Sailiya shocked the third-placed Al Gharafa by a solitary goal from Mohammed Mudather, scored in the 70th minute.
The win saw Al Sailiya move to 22 points with their sixth victory.
Al Gharafa failed to add to their tally of 27 points as they suffered their fifth defeat.
Al Gharafa showed early intent when Koo Ja-Cheol drilled a shot from the edge of the box in the third minute, but the ball sailed past the goalpost to the right of Al Sailiya keeper Claude Amine.
Soon, Al Sailiya’s Saad Al Sowan produced a low shot from inside the Al Gharafa box, but the ball was blocked by keeper Yousef Hassan.
In the 19th minute, Koo produced another long-range shot following a short cross
from the wing, but the ball was once again slapped away with a dive by keeper Amine.
Al Gharafa’s Sofiane Hanni also lined up a good shot in the 33rd minute but, once again, The Cheetahs missed the target from the edge of the box.
Three minutes into the second half, Koo found Jonathan Kodjia with a neat cross as the tall Al Gharafa striker charged into the Al Sailiya box. Kodjia tried to clip the ball over the head of goalkeeper, who stepped out of his position to block the move. But he managed to reach the ball with his right hand to take the sting out of the attack.
Seven minutes on, Al Sailiya’s Tiago Bezerra superbly took a direct free-kick from the edge of the Al Gharafa box, but the ball narrowly missed the crossbar. A couple of minutes later, Al Sailiya’s Mohammed
Rajab also got close to the goalmouth, but his feeble tap was not enough to beat the keeper.
After a series of hits and misses, Al Sailiya found the target through Mudather. He received a long loopy ball inside the box and Al Gharafa’s new recruit Serge Kanon failed to read the flight of the ball and failed to clear it, allowing Mudather a shot at the goal and the latter scored with ease.
Worthy win for Al Khor
Al Khor defeated 10-man Al Kharaitiyat 2-1 at Qatar SC Stadium on Saturday.
Khaled Radwan (9th minute) and Pierre-Michel Lasogga (55th minute) scored for Al Khor in their third win this season. And it came at a crucial time when The Knights were in danger zone.
Nasser Ibrahim Al Nasr pulled one back for Al Kharaitiyat
in the 79th minute.
After the victory in bottomof-the-table clash, Al Khor moved to 13 points, while Al Kharaitiyat remained last with six points. Al Kharaitiyat had defeated Al Khor by the same margin in the first leg.
Al Khor started the match brightly by attacking the Al Kharaitiyat goal. They came close to scoring in the eighth minute, but Ismail Elhaddad, who was in a good position to score, fired his shot wide.
But just a minute later, Radwan scored with a clinical header as he evaded his marker from a corner kick to take Al Khor ahead.
Al Kharaitiyat, looking to make a comeback, began to attack,
making many attempts, but they lacked accuracy.
Adding to their misery was a red card to Rachid Tiberkanine, who was expelled from the match for a dangerous challenge against Radwan in the 40th minute.
On Sunday, while defending champions Al Duhail will play Al Rayyan, Al Arabi will lock horns with Al Wakrah, and Umm Salal will meet Qatar SC. Results: Al Khor 2 (Khaled Radwan 9’, Pierre-Michel Lasogga 55’) bt Al Kharaitiyat 1 (Nasser Al Nasr 79’); Al Sadd 3 (Baghdad Bounedjah 23’, Boualem Khoukhi 26’, Tarek Salman 88’) bt Al Ahli 0; Al Sailiya 1 (Mohammed Muddather 70’)