South Korean star Nam Tae-Hee scored a brace as Al Sadd defeated the reigning QNB Stars League champions Al Duhail 3-1 at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday.
The former QFA Player of the Year, Tae-Hee netted his goals in the 22nd and 70th minutes while Brazilian Guilherme added one to Al Sadd’s account in the 38th minute.
Dudu was Al Duhail’s lone scorer, netting the consolation goal in the 86th minute of the high profile QSL Round 3 encounter, postponed due to the teams’ Asian Champions League commitments.
Yesterday’s result raised Al Sadd’s points tally to 10 points as they jumped to the second spot in the overall rankings while Al Duhail remained at 6 points.
As expected, the match saw a keen tussle between two of the best teams in Qatar, right from the start.
Al Sadd, who were without previous season's top scorer Baghdad Bounedjah due to an injury, welcomed back their forward Akram Afif, who was on national duty along with few others.
Tae-Hee scored with a rising shot that dipped inside the goal after hitting the crossbar, giving no chance to Al Duhail goalkeeper Mohammed Al Bakri to make a save despite his effort to get his hand on to the ball.
Guilherme doubled the lead by heading in a free-kick taken by captain Hassan Al Haydous.
For Al Duhail, Dudu made two attempts at the goal during the first half and captain Almoez Ali connected a long ball wide of the target towards the end of it.
Al Duhail took the field in the second half, with Ismail Mohammed replacing Mehdi Benatia. Both teams then made a spate of substitutions.
Al Duhail were now more in the game than they were in the first half even as Al Sadd goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham continued to make impressive saves.
Nam scored a second time with an angular shot past the challenge from Ramin after Akram set him up by heading down a long cross.
Al Duhail had a goal disallowed in the 77th minute as referee Salman Falahi, after consulting the VAR, ruled that Ismail ‘handled’ the ball before scoring following a free-kick taken by Ramin.
Dudu finally found the target with a left-footed shot, but it was too late for Al Duhail.
