QSL
Antonio Mance scored a thrilling hat-trick as Umm Salal beat Al Gharafa 5-0 in their third-round Group B match of 2024-2025 season QSL Cup at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Duhail club on Saturday, October 5, 2024.
Croatian forward Mance struck in the 81st, 83rd and 90+2 minutes, while substitute Abdullah Khaled (45+1 minute) and Kenji Gorre (90th minute) scored the other goals for Umm Salal, who were clearly on fire, especially in the second half.
The rampaging win took The Orange Fortress’ tally of points to six from three games, while Al Gharafa, who suffered a second successive defeat, are yet to open their account after their two games.
The other teams in Group B are Al Wakrah, Al Shamal and Al Khor.
Umm Salal opened scoring in the added time of opening half when Kenji Gorre broke in from the left at a fast pace to provide a cross to Khaled, who kept two defenders at bay in front of the goal, to strike.
Al Gharafa tried hard to make amends in the second half, but they were repeatedly either beaten by the pace of the opposition or saw their attacks being nullified.
The Cheetahs also tried to strike from long, but lacked bite. In the 73rd minute, substitute Wajdi Khechrida attempted one such attempt, but the kick was feeble reaching the goalkeeper without causing any discomfort.
In contrast, Umm Salal were on ever-alert mode as they kept winning the ball more often than not. And in the 81st minute they however made charge on a counter and Oussama Tannane ran through the midfield putting a through ball for Mance to go down the right and fire in a telling kick.
Even before Al Gharafa could recover, Umm Salal struck again within minutes as Tannane and Mance combined brilliantly making a break in but when Tannane could find the space he moved the ball back to Mance to score again.
In the 85th minute, Al Gharafa won a free-kick about 10 yards from the box, but Rabeh Yahia Boussafi’s curling kick landed safely with Umm Salal goalkeeper Landing Badji.
Soon in the 88th minute, Umm Salal were back in the striking zone again, but Gorre’s kick – after he made a burst – was superbly cut off by the left leg of Al Gharafa goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar.
Gorre, however, made a return and this time ferociously as he collected a Tannane assist, ran down in from the left, and used his left foot to flick the ball over an advanced Ababacar’s head for a spectacular fourth goal for Umm Salal.
There was still more to come as Mance completed his hat-trick providing more finishing touches to his team’s superb win with a cracking kick from far left of the box into the right corner of the net (5-0).