Alkass Digital
Al Shahania shocked leaders Al Duhail 2-1 to register their first win of 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League in the concluding match of Week 6 at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium of Al Sadd club on Friday.
The star for Al Shahania was their Dutch midfielder Pelle van Amersfoort who struck in the 20th and 32nd minutes of the match. For Al Duhail, Kenyan striker Michael Olunga pulled one back in the 74th minute, but The Red Knights could not find the elusive equalizer despite raising much heat on the rivals.
It was Al Duhail’s first loss of the league season. And for Al Shahania, a great morale-boosting maiden win during which they showed superb capabilities both in attack and defence.
Van Amersfoort exposed frailties in Al Duhail’s defence as he first moved from the left making foray before striking a long-ranger that beat a diving goalkeeper into the left corner.
The Dutchman returned to haunt Al Duhail a second time when he found a Francesco Antonucci long ball inside right of the danger area. Left much unmarked, Amersfoort volleyed the ball into the net.
A 2-0 hill then appeared quite a task for Al Duhail as Al Shahania kept breaking down their attacks.
While at the start, in the 10th minute, Al Duhail were a bit unlucky when an Olunga header skimmed over the crossbar, but in the 34th minute and 42nd minutes Ismail Mohammed and Edmilson headers were cut off by Al Shahania goalkeeper Shehab Mamdouh Ellethy.
Al Duhail kept attacking, but failed to find the target as in the 53rd minute Olunga shot wide.
In the 58th minute, Al Shahania’s Alhassan Korma missed a powerful hit to the left of the post.
Olunga eventually succeeded for Al Duhail when he connected an Edmilson long kick into the right corner of the goal.
An Al Duhail comeback now seemed on the cards, but Al Shahania sandbagged in defence superbly, giving no space for the rivals to force their way. Al Shahania intermittently also kept making counter-attacks as the match continued at a fast pace till the end of seven minutes of stoppage time.
In the end, it was a well-deserved victory for Al Shahania, who now have five points in their kitty to be in 10th place. Al Duhail, despite the loss, stayed on top with 15 points.
The league now goes into an international break with Week 7 matches resuming on October 18.