Umm Salal face an uphill task as they take on Al Duhail in the final of 2022-2023 season Ooredoo Cup. The kick-off is at 22:00 at the Al Sadd Stadium on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

The match is expected to be exciting especially since both teams are looking to win their first title in the tournament, which will naturally throw up a new champion this time.

Al Duhail qualified for the final at the expense of Al Sadd (3-1) in the semifinal. The Red Knights have won numerous titles and would very much wish to add Ooredoo Cup to their illustrious trophy cabinet.

Umm Salal made it to the title clash by beating Al Arabi 2-1 in the semifinal with two late goals after being down by a goal. Title triumph would give them a great push and morale boost as The Orange Fortress are languishing at 11th place in the QNB Stars League table with 13 points, whereas Al Duhail are on top with 39 points.

Umm Salal’s Moroccan coach Talal El Karkouri will rely more on Jordanian Yassin Al Bakhit, who scored the winning goal against Al Arabi in the semifinal, in addition to Abdullah Khafifi, Joao Teixeira, Adil Rhaili, Nasser Al Nasr and Adel Alawi.

Al Duhail’s Argetinian coach Hernan Crespo has at his disposal several key players, such as Almoez Ali, Ferjani Sassi, Mohammed Muntari, Ismail Mohammed and Nam Tae-Hee.

Both teams are capable of beating each other, thus brightening up the prospects of an open game.

It may be recalled that Umm Salal and Al Duhail had progressed to the knockout semifinals by being Group A and Group B winners respectively.