Qatar SC’s Samuel Eto’o celebrates after scoring a goal against Al Kharaitiyat yesterday
Doha: Former Cameroonian and Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o netted a brace (27, 40) as Qatar SC recorded breezed past Al Kharaitiyat 4-0 in their QSL Cup round four match yesterday.
Fadl Omar and Ali Said Al Mohannadi scored the other goals in the 36th and 68th minute respectively.
Yesterday’s win also secured Qatar SC their place in the quarter-finals of the tournament, along with Al Duhail and Al Gharafa.
At the Al Duhail Stadium, Al Kharaitiyat’s best chance to pull one back came in the 58th minute, but Maher’s shot was blocked by Qatar SC goalkeeper Rajab Hamza.
Al Kharaitiyat showed more enthusiasm in the second half in their bid to make a breakthrough, as Qatar SC slightly took their foot off the pedal, having had a three-goal cushion.
However, amid Al Kharaitiyat’s moves, Qatar SC shook the rival net one more time when Ali headed in a cross.
Qatar SC are unbeaten so far in the tournament.
Al Duhail also recorded a win in the simalar fashion yesterday against Al Arabi to maintain their unbeaten streak in the tournament.
They overcame Al Arabi by a 4-0 margin thanks to goals from Saleh Al Hilabi (31), Salmin Zayed (57), Rabeh Bousaffi (61) and Paolo Edmilson (83).
Al Duhail, under the watchful eyes of their former player and Algerian international Madjid Bougherra standing in place of regular coach Nabil Maaloul from Tunisia, had an upper hand right throughout the game.
Edmilson was the livewire in the Al Duhail ranks as they dominated the ball with 62 per cent possession even though Al Arabi forced three corner kicks as against the rivals’ one.
Meanwhile, the defending champions Al Gharafa defeated Umm Salal 3-1 for their second victory.
Fahad Al Shammari (48), Vladimir Weiss (69) and Monkez Mohammed (90+1) found the net for Al Gharafa, while Nasser Al Nasr pulled a goal back for Umm Salal in the 88th minute.
Umm Salal thus crashed to their first defeat and stayed on five points. The match really came alive after resumption of play following a barren first half.
After Al Gharafa went 2-0 up through goals from Fahad and Vladimir, Nasser gave Umm Salal slight hopes by finding the target towards the end.
However, Al Gharafa sealed the issue through Monkez’s stoppage-time goal.
Al Duhail, Qatar SC and Al Gharafa have collected eight points each at the end of the fourth round. Umm Salal and Al Kharaitiyat will fight it out for the other last-eight spot from Group A.
Al Arabi are out of contention as they have yet to open their account, having lost all four of their matches.
