Al Duhail's Murad Naji vies for the ball posession against an Al Gharafa player during yesterday's Qatar Cup semi-final.
Doha: A second half hat-trick from Nam Tae-hee helped Al Duhail coast to an impressive 6-1 win over Al Gharafa and advance to the final of the Qatar Cup at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium here yesterday.
After a barren first half, QNB Stars League (QSL) champions struck in quick succession on resumption to script a commanding win.
Al Duhail struck twice within a span of nine minutes in the second half which kicked off a goal glut under lights.
Murad Naji gave Al Duhail the lead two minutes into the second half while seven minutes later on Ismail Mohammad consolidated the lead.
Tae-hee notched his hat-trick with goals in the 69, 79 and 86th minute, while Yousef Al Arabi accounted for one goal.
Al Gharafa salvaged some pride with a penalty goal in the injury time.
Naji, who scored one goal, was happy the team plan came off according to the expectations in the second half.
“The first half was tough and competitive. In the second half, we came with a set of tactics which paid off and we were able to score goals.”
Coach Djamel Belmadi’s team, which is having an impressive run in both the local and continental tournaments, set the tone of the match by dictating terms right from the kick off.
Al Duhail, which won the QSL title with an unbeaten record, held control over the mid field proceedings and came up with varied combinations to pick holes in the rival defence.
The QSL champions tried a few long rangers to unsettle the Al Gharafa defense were early into the match but without any success.
First Tae-hee effort flew over and later Naji went wide.
At the other end, Wesley Sneijder’s angular drive found Al Duhail keeper Lecoumet Amin collecting the ball at second attempt.
In the second half, Al Duhail shifted gears at a quick pace.
Two minutes from the changeover, Al Duhail struck on the goal front. Naji, who troubled the rival defence, punished Al Gharafa defence with a long drive 30-yard drive which sailed over the leaping goal keeper into the back of the nets, 1-0.
Ismail got into the scoring act, as he beat Al Gharafa defender Fahad Al Shammari with a quick body feint and cap his fine run on the right flank by beating the advancing keeper from close, 2-0.
The twin quick strikes seemed to have a demoralising effect and Al Gharafa never recovered from them.
Al Duhail took advantage of the situation by adding more goals and they came in quick succession.
Tae-hee added his name to the scorers list in the 69th minute with a perfectly executed free kick which flew over the wall and past the last line of Al Gharafa into the nets, 3-0.
Watched by national team coach Felix Sanchez, Al Duhail added a fourth one through Al Arabi in the 76th minute, 4-0.
Three minutes later on, Tae-hee added his second goal of the match in the 79th minute and completed his hat-trick seven minutes to complete the rout.
Mehdi Taremi scored the only goal for Al Gharafa.
Al Duhail will meet Al Sadd in the final on Friday.
