Al Duhail’s Moaaz Abdulla (second right) and Al Arabi’s Khalifa Ibrahim Al Khalfan (second left) vie for the ball possession during their QNB Stars League match played at Al Duhail Stadium yesterday. Al Duhail beat Al Arabi 2-0. (Pic: Abdul Basit/The Peni
Al Duhail yesterday raced to their second win of the new QNB Stars League season after the boys in maroon posted a 2-0 victory over Al Arabi.
Moaaz Abdalla (13) and Yussef Msakni (75) scored the goals for Djamel Belmadi’s side that kicked off the 2017-18 campaign with a 3-2 victory over Qatar SC last week.
Adopting to play aggressively from the start, Al Duhail won a corner just 20 seconds into the game but their Brazilian leftback Lucas Michel Mendes failed to convert a left-footed drive into the net from close range.
Moments later, Gaser Yahia of Al Arabi produced a neat tackle to block Al Duhail skipper Msakni who had charged into the former’s box with target in sight.
Al Duhail, underlining their intentions, sustained their fine start by attacking the Al Arabi goal in the first 10 minutes of the clash at the state-of-the-art Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium.
In the 11th minute, feared Korean striker Name Tai Hee swivelled past two of his markers but his left-footed drive from close range was smartly blocked by Al Arabi goalkeeper Naeem Hussein.
However, moments later goalkeeper Hussein let one in as Al Duhail opened the scoring in the 13th minute.
Stationed inside the Al Arabi box, striker Abdalla - Qatar’s U-23 star - headed home following a neat pass from Ismael Mohammed on the left flank as Al Duhail celebrated the early goal with cheering fans. It was Abdalla’s second goal of the season.
In the 18th minute, Al Arabi’s Brazilian midfielder Diego Jardel curled in a powerful shot from the edge of the box but the ball was punched away by Al Duhail goalkeeper Khalifa Ndiaye. Moments later, Tae Hee accidentally stepped on team mate Luiz Martin’s foot causing stoppage in play.
In a tame end to a slick move involving three home players, Al Duhail’s Yusef Al Arabi failed to produce a powerful shot as goalkeeper grabbed a feeble push close to the goalmouth in the 23rd minute.
In the first half an hour’s play, Al Duhail enjoyed 60 percent of the ball possession.
In the 35th minute, Tae-Hee charged solo into the Al Arabi box after an indirect corner kick and quickly produced a right-footed curling shot that narrowly sailed past the far goalpost with keeper Hussien in no position to stop the ball.
Eight minutes into the second half, Al Arabi’s Mardek Kifork was slapped with a yellow card for elbowing Ismail Mohammed in what was a meaningless infringement. After a stoppage in play and following medical assistance, Mohammed appeared with crepe bandage on his injured temple.
Soon after the hour-mark, in-form striker Tae-hee hit the Al Arabi crossbar with a cleverly-taken chip that sailed above ‘keeper Huessin’s head but bounced back without causing any damage.
To wrap up a commanding performance, hosts Al Duhail doubled their lead through captain Msakni, who found the net with a low shot in the 75th minute of the match.
Al Khor yesterday scripted a hard-fought 2-0 win over Al Ahli in what were the first points for the winners in the new QNB Stars League season.
Soroush Hossein scored the first goal with a slick finish in the 62nd minute. Madson scored the second goal in the 88th minute as Al Khor completed a quick reversal in fortunes following last week’s 4-2 loss to Al Rayyan.
