The Peninsula
Al Wakrah began their Ooredoo Cup campaign in style by defeating Al Sadd 5-1 while Al Rayyan and Al Ahli secured wins to get off to a flying start in the tournament yesterday.
At the Al Ahli Stadium, Abdulrahman Mosed (35th and 45th minutes), Omar Ali (42nd-minute penalty), Riadh Nasser (51st minute) and Ismail Mahmoud (86th minute) scored for Al Wakrah, as Marquez Lopez’s men collected three vital points in Group A.
Rami Suhail scored Al Sadd’s goal in the 40th minute.
Al Ahli, Umm Salal, Al Shahania and Al Rayyan are the other teams in the group.
The match was evenly fought for quite some time after the start, with Al Wakrah matching formidable Al Sadd ball for ball. But gradually, The Blue Wave called the shots.
Al Wakrah made excellent use of the flanks from where they mainly knitted their moves.
Al Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez sorely missed the services of many players as eight of them are doing duty for the Qatar national team, three for the Qatar Olympic squad and as many for their countries. A few of their players are on the injury list as well.
Players away on country duty are Algerian striker Baghdad Bounedjah, and South Korean midfielders Nam Tae-Hee and Jung Woo-Young.
And the juniors struggled to keep pace with Al Wakrah, for whom Ismail Mahmoud, Jassim Al Jalabi, Abdulrahman Mosed and Omar Ali excelled.
Abdulrahman Mosed opened the scoring by placing home Omar Ali’s cross from the right.
Al Sadd equalised when Rami scored in similar fashion off an Ali Asad pass from the left.
Omar converted from the spot after a penalty was awarded following the foul on Jassim Al Jalabi by Al Sadd goalkeeper Jehad Mohammed.
Abdulrahman Mosed found his second goal with a free-kick from the left that landed straight in the goal off the hand of the goalkeeper, as Al Wakrah took a half-time lead of 3-1.
Al Sadd could not do much in the second half and Al Wakrah struck twice more. Riadh found the target as he nodded home a corner kick by Jassim Al Jalabi. Ismail rounded off the tally with a measured drive off a pass from Yousef Musaed.
Meanwhile, goals from Ahmed Al Saadi (20), Abdul Rahman Al Harazi (61) and Rodrigo Tabata (85) secured a comfortable 3-0 for Al Rayyan in the opening match of the tournament against Al Shahaniya.
Elsewhere, at Al Ahli Stadium, the hosts beat Umm Salal 2-0 in the second Group A match.
Abel Mathias (52nd minute) and captain Nabil El Zhar (90+3 minutes) scored Al Ahli’s goals.