Al Arabi's Youssef Msakni (left) shoots at the goal. PIC: Amr Diab
Doha: Al Arabi scored a 2-1 win over Al Wakrah to regain top spot in the QNB Stars League (QSL) at the Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium yesterday.
Al Arabi rode on the brace of their Tunisian forward Youssef Msakni, who scored in the 31st and 68th minutes, after Al Wakrah had equalised just before the half time whistle from a penalty kick taken by Mohamed Benyettou (45+5’).
The exciting game saw ‘the Dream Team keep up their march as leaders at the top of the points tally despite ‘The Blue Waves’ briefly threatening to challenge.
Al Arabi took their appointed place with their 7th win of the league from nine matches tallying 22 points. Al Duhail, who had climbed to the top spot following their win over Al Gharafa, in the Week 9 clash were pushed to second with 20 points.
Al Wakrah are third having suffered their first loss of the season in eight matches with 15 points.
For Al Arabi, Msakni was the livewire throughout the match and it didn’t take him long to strike after the initial raids by his team. A midfield move developed fast and a Rafinha pass was just perfect for Msakni to go ahead and score the opening goal.
In the 39th minute, Al Arabi came close to scoring again when Ibrahim Kalla was in the clear but his shot off a pass was feeble going straight to Al Wakrah goalkeeper Saoud Mubarak.
Looking to make amends, Al Wakrah then made a sudden burst of action just before the break and got the reward after Al Arabi goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail brought down a player while charging to make a save. A VAR review saw the referee signal to the spot and Benyettou struck clean for Al Wakrah to go into half time at 1-1.
In the second essay, Al Arabi continued to attack and in the 59th minute Rafael Alcantara moved dangerously inside the danger area but Al Wakrah managed to clear the threat.
Minutes later it was Al Wakrah on the charge but Adlane Guedioura’s fabulous curling strike from far outside the box was pushed away by the outstretched hand of Al Arabi goalkeeper. The focus was back on Msakni and soon the striker grabbed a chance lunging forward to shoot past a diving goalkeeper to his left on the near right post and make it 2-1. Al Arabi could have added another goal later but their Syrian striker Omar Al Somah just took a wee bit long to strike from inside the ‘D’ resulting in a save being made.
Al Ahli beat Al Sailiya 2-1 to move into the top four
Al Ahli, meanwhile, scored a 2-1 win over Al Sailiya yesterday to move into the top four of the standings at Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium.
The goals for Al Ahli were scored by Oumar Yansane Sekou (37th minute) and Soufiane Hanni (64th minute) before Mehrdad Mohammadi pulled one back for Al Sailiya towards the end from a penalty (90+3’). Al Ahli, who now have 13 points, replaced Qatar Sports Club (also 13 points) in the top four having lost a game less in nine matches. Qatar SC, however, still have a postponed match to play.
Al Sailiya remained at the 12th place suffering a seventh loss of the season and having 4 points.
