Al Gharafa’s Wesley Sneijder (right) vies for ball possession with an Al Khor player during their QNB Stars League match in Doha yesterday.
Doha: Al Gharafa slammed six past Al Khor without reply while Qatar SC edged Al Arabi 1-0 in their QNB Stars League Week 10 matches yesterday.
At the Al Gharafa Stadium, Amro Seraj (16th), Wesley Sneijder (51st), Vladimir Weiss (53rd), Mehdi Taremi (64th and 83rd) and Ahmed Alaaeldin (72nd) scored the goals.
Al Gharafa, coached by Frenchman Christian Gourcuff, thus got back to winning ways, having played out a 1-1 draw with Al Rayyan in the previous round.
The Cheetahs’ fourth victory helped them earn 14 points so far in the standings.
As the scoreline indicates, it was Al Gharafa all the way with 55 per cent ball possession.
The red card to Rebin Solaka in the 40th minute made matters worse for Al Khor, who had won their previous two games (against Al Rayyan and Al Kharaitiyat in that order).
Al Gharafa forced 11 corner kicks as against the rivals’ five.
Sneijder was making his return from an injury layoff that saw him miss a few matches.
Amro opened the floodgates off a pass from Muath Yahya.
Brazilian striker Wagner Ferreira had found the net as early as the second minute, but the goal was ruled offside.
As the second half began, Al Gharafa started from where they left off.
Sneijder’s goal came off an assist from Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi. Soon, it was Slovakian attacking midfielder Weiss’ turn to get on to the scoresheet.
Alaaeldin also got into the scoring act in between Taremi’s goals.
On a day when Al Khor, under Frenchman Bernard Casoni, did not get things right, Al Gharafa goalkeeper Yousef Hassan was in exceptional form.
He thwarted attempts mainly by Wagner and Ahmed Yassin.
At the Al Arabi Stadium, Cameroonian great Samuel Eto’o scored the all-important goal in the 25th minute to give Qatar SC full points.
The victory, Qatar SC’s third, took The Kings’ points tally to 11, while Al Arabi crashed to their fourth successive defeat and remained on 12 points.
Qatar SC created more chances in the first half.
The goal came as a result of a blunder by goalkeeper Sataa Al Abbasi, who fumbled with the collection of a back pass and Eto’o trapped the ball before placing it home.
Sataa was standing in for injured regular keeper Masoud Zarayi who had missed their previous match against Al Ahli as well. With new coach Hatem Al Moaddeb opting to play with only one striker (Mohammed Salah El Neel), Mailson Farias started on the bench and Al Arabi’s attacks lacked teeth.
There were missed chances at both ends before the half-time whistle.
Qatar SC’s striker Osama Omari hit wide from close range after 40 minutes, followed by El Neel’s shot that was blocked by goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail after the striker had dodged past two defenders on top of the box.
Mailson took the field at the start of second half in place of Mohammed Ismaildin. The Brazilian striker’s presence surely revitalised the Al Arabi ranks.
Al Arabi’s Ahmed Fathi had a shot parried by Al Hail. To compound The Dream Team’s woes, captain Abdulla Marafy had to be stretchered off with a muscle pull and was replaced by Gaser Zakaria.
Al Hail, who has been in great form this season, was at it again. This time, he palmed over a power-packed shot from just outside the box by Fathy.
After Al Arabi’s Franco Hurtado’s shot went wide, Al Hail brought out a diving save to thwart Mailson.
Al Arabi’s all efforts late into the game went in vain as the scoreline remained the same.
