Umm Salal take points off Al Sadd

Blustery conditions at the Hamad Bin Khalifa played into the hands of Umm Salal as they shared the points with Al Sadd in a bruising 1-1 draw on Sunday evening.

Al Sadd floundered in the early stages of the tie. Former Sadd coach Hussain Amoutta was in attendance at the match, and the Moroccan tactician would not have been impressed with how his former charges had started the tie.

Umm Salal began to mount a sustained period of pressure from set pieces, but despite the aerial prowess of Yannick Sagbo and Wellington, the orange fortress where unable to carve out a chance of note.



Al Sadd’s first moment of quality delivered the opener of the match, from Qatari international Khalfan Ibrahim. A quick one-two with compatriot Hassan Al Haydoos on the 37^th minute gave the midfielder time and space in the box, Khalfan promptly smashed his shot past Baba Malick in the Umm Salal goal.

Umm Salal quickly struck back in stoppage time, with the blustery conditions having a hand in their equalizer. A well delivered Rami Fayez free kick looped over the whole Al Sadd defence,Brazilian defender Wellington was on hand to scoop in from close range giving Umm Salal a deserved equalizer on the balance of play, the first half ended 1-1.

In the second half the Wolves came out with renewed vigor and it took them nine minutes for them to register their first chance in anger. Unfortunately the Hassan Al Haydoos free kick sailed high and wide of Baba Malick’s goal.  

The Wolves had their rivals on the back foot for much of the second half, but could not find the killer touch in the final third. Chances missed from substitutes Meshaal Al-Shammari and Saleh Alyazidi summed up a disappointing night for Jesualdo Ferreira.  

Umm Salal held on well throughout the second half, holding off attacks from both wings from Nadir Belhadj and the ever present Haydoos. Brazilian defender Wellington exemplified the hard work of the Umm Salal during this period.

Bülent Uygun will be the happier of the two coaches at the end of the tie. As the Orange Fortress held on to register their eighth draw of the QSL season. For Al Sadd, they will use the three week break to focus on the second part of the season, and hope that they can get back into the QSL title race.