Al Sadd's Baghdad Bounedjah celebrates with team-mates.
Doha: Al Sadd, Umm Salal and Qatar SC recorded victories in the Group A encounters in the fourth round of Ooredoo Cup yesterday.
Al Sadd beat Al Ahli 4-0 at the Al Egla 4 pitch as the Wolves clinched their third win of the tournament with the help of a brilliant hat-trick from Algerian striker Baghdad Bounedjah.
Bounedjah struck in the 14th, 21st and 51st minutes while captain Rodrigo Tabata scored one in the 29th minute.
Al Sadd led 3-0 at half-time.
Bounedjah’s early goal provided Al Sadd with the momentum and they kept attacking as the tall striker added his second goal six minutes later.
Tabata made it 3-0 as Al Sadd held sway going into the break.
Bounedjah completed his hat-trick soon in the second half before Al Ahli tightened their defence to ensure no more reversals.
The win saw Al Sadd bounce back from their loss to Umm Salal in the previous round. Al Sadd had earlier registered victories over Al Sailiya and Al Wakrah.
The Wolves, coached by Juan Manuel Lillo, now have nine points, while Al Ahli stood on six points.
The Brigadiers had lost to Umm Salal in their opener, but had won against Al Sailiya and Qatar SC.
Meanwhile, Umm Salal defeated Al Wakrah 5-3 at the Qatar University training pitch 4.
Umm Salal made a rocking start and led 3-1 at half-time and although Al Wakrah rallied to match their rivals, Umm Salal prevailed. The scorers for Umm Salal were Driss Saddiki (12th minute), Abdullah Khafifi (16th minute), Sardor Rashidov (42nd & 57th minutes) and Abdullah Khalid (90+3 minute). For Al Wakrah, Abdelghani Muneer (19th minute penalty), Mohammed Khalid (51st & 65th minutes) did the scoring.
The win was Umm Salal's fourth consecutive and saw them retain the top place in Group A with 12 points, while Al Wakrah remained on three points after suffering their third loss.
There was excitement in the match right from the start, with Saddiki opening the account for Umm Salal.
Khafifi then added to Umm Salal’s early lead, making it 2-0. Within minutes, Al Wakrah pulled one back through a penalty taken by Muneer.
Here on, the two sides battled hard to keep possession before Umm Salal’s Uzbek winger Rashidov swung into action to make it 3-1 in his team’s favour before the break.
Al Wakrah rallied in the second half, with Mohamad Khalid scoring their second goal. But Rashidov returned for Umm Salal to add one more to their own tally (4-2).
Elsewhere, Qatar SC defeated Al Sailiya 2-0 at the Al Ersal pitch 2.
Matheus Dos Santos (52nd minute) and Jassim Al Jalabi (56th minute) scored the goals as Qatar SC notched up their second victory to move on to six points. Qatar SC were in attack mode from the start and all Al Sailiya could do was hold their rivals goalless till half-time.
Al Sailiya too had their chances, but it was Qatar SC who held on to their two quick goals that came not long after the resumption of play.
Delivering again for Al Wakrah, Mohamad scored his second and his team’s third goal (3-4).
This led to a fierce contest, with both teams pushing hard for more. In the end, it was Abdullah Khalid’s goal in the added time which ended Al Wakrah’s slim hopes of snatching a draw.
