Al Shamal defeated a 10-man Al Wakrah 3-0 in Week 11 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Janoub Stadium on Sunday.

Hotshot Baghdad Bounedjah opened the scoring for Al Shamal in the 25th minute before Mohammed Omar (45th minute) and Suhaib Gannan (90+7 minute) added to the tally as the winners increased their tally to 16 points, while Al Wakrah remained rooted on 14.

The very exciting and competitive match lived up to its billing, considering the closeness of the sides in the standings ahead of the game.

Al Wakrah, who came into the match on the back of a 1-3 loss to Al Gharafa in the last round and also a 0-2 defeat to Tajikistan’s FC Ravshan in the group stage of AFC Champions League Two last week, were unsurprisingly eager to halt the slide as they came out with a view of getting an early goal to at least calm the frail nerves of their exciting fans.

But for all of The Blue Wave’s initial attempts, it was Al Shamal who registered the first goal in the 25th minute through Bounedjah, who beat the offside trap, following an overhead cross by Mohammed Musa, before hitting home a right-footed shot from the centre of the box. The goal, though initially contested, was eventually made to stand after a lengthy VAR review.

Not relenting on their oars, Al Shamal kept up the momentum with a view of adding to the tally to ensure a safe berth going into the break, and their efforts paid off right on the dot of regulation time in the first half, with Mohammed registering his name on the scorers sheet from an assist by Bounedjah, who muscled his way past Al Wakrah defence in a dicey situation before freeing the ball for the Algerian player to simply slot home.

Al Wakrah came back for the concluding half of the match with much better co-ordination and formation, and their pressure on Al Shamal almost yielded a result in the 49th minute if Jacinto Dala’s right-footed shot from outside the box from a direct free-kick had been turned a few degrees in a different direction.

Al Shamal’s defence, on the other hand, were resolute on the day as they staved off all attacks of the hosts, seemingly making them run out of ideas as the clock wore down.

Things turned from bad to worse for Al Wakrah in the 71st minute when Abdeaziz Mitwali’s initial yellow card for a dangerous foul on Al Shamal’s Younes Belhanda was upgraded to a red after a lengthy VAR review.

With their one-man advantage, things could not have gone better for Al Shamal as they relentlessly attempted to troll Al Wakrah.

Just when it seemed the match would end with the two-goal result, Al Shamal found the back of the net again in seven minutes of added time through Gannan, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the box located the bottom left corner following another superb assist by Bounedjah to end the match with the undisputable maximum points.