QSL
Al Sadd defeated Al Wakrah 3-0 in Round 2, Group A of the 2022-2023 season Ooredoo Cup at the Al Wakrah Stadium on Sunday.
Baghdad Bounedjah (60th minute), and substitute Hassan Ahmed (73rd and 78th minutes) scored the goals as Al Sadd moved on to six points, having beaten Al Sailiya 4-0 in their opener.
Umm Salal, Al Ahli, Qatar SC, and Al Sailiya are the other teams in Group A.
Group B consists of Al Duhail, Al Markhiya, Al Arabi, Al Shamal, Al Gharafa and Al Rayyan.
Both teams had chances in the first half which, however, failed to produce a goal.
Al Sadd played second fiddle to their rivals initially, but caught up with them before long and dominated the rivals as the match wore on.
Al Wakrah’s attacks revolved around their Algerian forward Mohamed Benyettou in the absence of their spearhead Jacinto Dala.
Benyettou sent in a free-kick from outside the ‘D’ in the 21st minute only for goalkeeper Yousef Abdullah to parry it.
Al Sadd’s Rodrigo Tabata had his angular shot go wide in the 27th minute. A couple of minutes later, his teammate Abdullah Badr failed to connect the ball to the goal.
Santi Cazorla, the livewire in Al Sadd’s ranks, had his shot blocked by goalkeeper Mohammed Saeed in the 41st minute.
At the other end the next minute, Benyettou’s shot met with the same fate.
Al Wakrah showed more purpose in the second half, but it was Al Sadd who surged ahead through Bounedjah’s opportunist strike on the hour mark.
Hassan Ahmed made his mark soon after coming off the bench by scoring, an act which he did again soon to seal full points for The Wolves.
It was Al Wakrah’s second reversal, having lost 1-3 to Qatar SC in Round 1.