Only one more round is remaining in this season’s QNB Stars League, but Al Gharafa have high hopes of staying in the fourth position.

Al Gharafa and Umm Salal both have 32 points, but the former are ahead on goal difference. They have nine wins, five draws and seven defeats.

The Cheetahs scored 40 goals and conceded 34 to have a goal difference of +6.

Al Gharafa and Umm Salal are the only teams in contention for the fourth spot that guarantees a place in the elite Qatar Cup.

Al Gharafa are up against Qatar SC, while Umm Salal play Al Markhiya in Week 22.

Al Gharafa had mixed fortunes in their campaign. Even though they lifted the QSL Cup, The Cheetahs’ performance was not up to the mark in the first phase as they languished at the seventh position with 11 points with just two victories to their credit after 11 rounds.

However, they were a transformed lot in the second phase.

They benefited much from the changes that they made before the start of second phase, in the January transfer window. They started doing extremely well ever since Turkish coach Bulent Uygun took over from Frenchman Jean Fernandez.

They strengthened the squad by recruiting Dutch star Wesley Sneijder, Iranian ace Mehdi Taremi and Asim Madbo.

Sneijder and Taremi gave back rich dividends for the huge investments by playing significant roles in many a positive result for the side.

The other star who excelled for Al Gharafa is Ahmed Alaaeldin, who is their joint top scorer with Sneijder on six goals.

The team gelled very well and quickly made a turnaround in their fortunes. They won seven of the 10 games they played so far in the second phase, while losing the other three.

Al Gharafa also reaped the rewards for grooming youngsters, who seized the opportunities, such as goalkeeper Youssef Hassan, Amr Abdel Fattah, Ilyas Ahmed, Syed Al Hajj and Monqez Mohamed.