Al Duhail's Mohammed Muntari is being congratulated by team-mates after he scored the team's second goal against Umm Salal, yesterday.
The reigning champions, Al Duhail began their QNB Stars League (QSL) title defence in emphatic fashion with a 3-0 win over Umm Salal at the Education City Stadium yesterday. Luis Martin (fifth minute), Mohammed Muntari (36th minute) and substitute Ali Afif (90+3) scored for The Red Knights. Al Duhail started from where they left off, having recently won their seventh league title.
They edged Al Rayyan by one point in the final round of the previous QSL season to secure the Falcon Shield two weeks ago. Al Duhail dominated Umm Salal, who put up a brave fight in the game after conceding two goals. However, The Orange Fortress conceded a late goal as well. Al Duhail had two new faces in Eduardo Rodriguez (Dudu) and Ramin Rezaeian, who switched from relegated side Al Shahania.
Overall, their players more than made up for the absences of injured key players like Edmilson Junior, Karim Boudiaf, Yousef Msakni and Bassam Al Rawi. Luis Martin put Al Duhail in the lead with a long-range leftfooter. Captain Almoez Ali set him up after Luis Martin played a one-two with him following Baba Malick’s clearance. The second goal came when Muntari rose high to head in Rezaeian’s measured cross from the right.
Ali Afif, who came off the bench for Dudu, added the third goal of the match by giving finishing touches to his own effort off a counter-attack on behalf of the champions who are preparing for the 2020 AFC Champions League, which will resume soon with all West Zone matches being scheduled in Doha.
Umm Salal, who finished in the 10th position in the 2019-20 season after staring at relegation and even occupying the bottom of the table at one stage, had reinforced the squad in the new season, but that was not enough for them in front of the might of Al Duhail. Meanwhile, at the Al Ahli Stadium, the hosts fought back from a goal down to beat Al Wakrah 2-1 in their opening match of the season.
Khalid Muneer took Al Wakrah ahead in the 25th minute, but Al Ahli replied through Omid Ebrahimi (38th minute) and Nabil El Zhar (51st-minute penalty). Al Wakrah had more of the ball and chances, but they lacked in finishing. On the other hand, Al Ahli were more pragmatic in their approach and reaped the rewards for it. Khalid Muneer found the target with an opportunistic strike when Al Ahli goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues fumbled with collecting Jassim Ali Al Hashimi’s cross from the left. Omid helped The Brigadiers draw level by slotting the ball home following a corner kick from Nabil El Zhar.
Nabil struck what turned out to be the winner when he converted a penalty, awarded for a foul by Murad Naji on Hazem Shehata. Later, at the same venue, Al Khor and Al Arabi shared points following a thrilling contest which saw the teams scoring two goals each.
