Al Arabi rode on a Rodrigo Sanchez strike to edge Al Duhail 1-0 in Round 4 (Group A) of 2024-2025 season QSL Cup at the Al Khor Stadium on Friday.

The hard-fought win saw Al Arabi move into second place in the pool with nine  points, behind Al Duhail on goal difference. The result also ended Al Duhail’s winning streak.

Both sides displayed astute defence throughout the match, but Rodrigo broke past The Red Knights in the 30th minute, striking from well outside the box, with his kick being deflected a bit further left taking the toe-end of a defender’s boot to beat goalkeeper Bautista Burke in the left corner.

Al Duhail, however, were unlucky as they came close to scoring twice, but hit the woodwork. First, it was the young curly-haired Mohammed Ibrahim Abdelmajid who struck the crossbar with a powerful kick in the 12th minute, and in the second half (62nd minute), Mubarak Shanan Hamza’s fine kick found the bottom of left post.

Ten minutes later, Al Duhail’s Luis Alberto’s attempt was saved in the left corner by Al Arabi goalkeeper Mohammed Saeed Ibrahim.

Both teams displayed excellent man-to-man marking, tight-fisted defence and attack producing exciting football. Towards the end, Al Duhail tried to make several forays, but they were held off by an alert Al Arabi defence line denying them the much-sought equalizer.

Al Rayyan, Al Ahli, Al Shahania and Qatar SC are the other teams in the group.