QSL
Umm Salal beat Al Shamal 1-0 in Round 3 (Group A) of the 2021-2022 season Ooredoo Cup at the Al Khor Stadium on Sunday.
Abdullah Khaled scored the only goal of the match in the 60th minute after both sides failed to find the net in the first half.
Umm Salal moved on to three points with their first victory.
Al Shamal already had four points.
In the seventh minute, Al Shamal’s Muath Yahya picked out Mohammed El Sayed with a cross from the edge of the box and the latter, shadowed by an Umm Salal defender, failed to connect from close range.
In the 19th minute, Umm Salal’s Abdulrahman Raafat, given chase by Al Shamal’s Majed Mohammed, went long-range with a left-footed drive that sailed above the Al Shamal crossbar.
In what could be described as a wasted opportunity, Raafat got close to the Al Shamal goalmouth, but his shot from close range was wayward in the 35th minute.
On the hour mark, Abdullah Khaled, stationed on the left of goalkeeper Hassan Idriss inside the Al Shamal box, drilled in a powerful right-footed drive past him. It was a fluent move from Umm Salal that ended in slick fashion.
In the 82nd minute, Abdullah Khaled was benched and Adnan Mustafa was brought in to protect the narrow lead.
Al Shamal substitute Abdulaziz Metwali found team-mate Jeremy de Nooijer with a neat cross in the 88th minute. The Dutchman, inside the Umm Salal box, managed a deflection, but his right-footed shot went narrowly close to the goalpost left of keeper Mohammed Muntazar and the scoreboard remained the same.
Meanwhile, Al Wakrah beat Al Rayyan 4-3 at the Qatar SC Stadium on Sunday.
Mohamed Benyettou (25th-minute penalty and 90+1 minute penalty), Saoud Al Nasr (57th minute) and Hazem Shahata (68th minute) scored the goals for Al Wakrah.
For Al Rayyan, Yohan Boli (45th, 69th and 76th minutes) produced a quality hat-trick.
Al Wakrah, with the victory, took their points tally to six, while Al Rayyan were left still searching for their first point.
Al Wakrah scored in the 12th minute through Abdulghani Muneer. However, the celebrations did not last long as the VAR ruled it offside.
Al Wakrah were not to be denied and they opened the scoring when Jacinto Dalla was brought down inside the box by Dame Traore and Khalid Muftah. After a VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot and Benyettou easily converted the kick.
Just before the half-hour break, Abdulghani Muneer, just a few metres away from the goal, missed the target with his left-footed drive.
Seconds before the start of injury time of the first half, Boli produced the equalizer with a solo run into the Al Wakrah area. After charging into the box, he drilled a left-footed drive that touched keeper Mohammed Saeed’s hand, but still crashed into the net.
Al Nasr gave Al Wakrah a 2-1 lead when he outpaced Mohammed Juma as he charged into the Al Rayyan box and then smashed the ball past goalkeeper Fahad Younis.
Shehata made it 3-1 for Al Wakrah with a left-footed curling shot that crashed into the top left of the goal.
But Al Rayyan reduced the deficit the next minute when Boli scored his second of the match with another long solo run.
Boli completed his hat-trick when he tapped the ball from close range following a long cross by Tameem Mansour from the right flank.
Benyettou converted his second penalty of the match in stoppage time to power Al Wakrah to a fighting 4-3 win.