Jaish edge out Arabi 4-3 in seven goal thriller

El Jaish edged out Al Arabi 4-3 on Monday evening in a pulsating QSL tie at Lekhwiya stadium. Jaish raced into a two goal lead thanks to Lucas Mendes and Romarinho, before being pegged back by Al Arabi who scored through Emoh Ezekial and Luis Jiménez. Jaish thought they scored the winner in the 75th minute via a tap in from Rashidov before Arabi struck an equalizer Boualem Khoukhi moments later. In second half stoppage time the soldiers grabbed the winner through a specualar strike through Rashidov.

El Jaish’s early dominance finally told with defender Lucas Mendes opened the scoring with his second goal of the season courtesy of a thumping header with the game just four minutes old. A accurate corner found the Brazilian who powerfully headed in from inside the penalty area. 

Within ten minutes Jaish had doubled their lead thanks to Romainho’s twelfth  goal of the season. Sardor Rashidov made a surging run on the left hand side and picked out Jaish’s leading scorer who made no mistake thumping the ball into the back of the net

Arabi registered their first chance in anger on the 20th minute captain Boualem Khoukhi produced a trademark whipped shot which ended up wide of the Jaish goal. Arabi upped the pressure and pulled a goal back four minutes later through Nigerian attacker Emoh Ezekial. A tidy cross from Luis Jiménez found Ezekiel who beat Yousef Muftah at the near post to slide the ball into the back of the net. 

Jaish looked the stronger side as the half progressed and perhaps should of gone into the break 3-1 up. Fortunately for Al Arabi, keeper Rajab Hamza pulled off a world-class save to push the ball onto the post to deny Mohammad Mothnani on the thirty eighth minute Jaish where to rue that chance as the tie went into first half stoppage  as defender Ali Sanad saw red for his remonstrations with the assistant referee over an off the ball incident. Jaish headed into the break with a narrow 2-1 lead.

Arabi came out fighting in the second half and registered their intent with a spectacular curling freekick from Jiménez on the forty sixth minute, which was tipped over by Jaish keeper Saoud Al Khater. The Dream Team pressed ahead with their one man advantage and Jimenez’s near post shot was denied thanks to another save from Al Khater. 

On the hour mark, Arabi drew thanks to Luis Jiménez who made the score 2-2 on the evening. The former Chilean international started the move on the edge of the box, and saw ball flicked to him from Ahmad Khalfan. Exhibiting a fine first touch, Jiménez killed the ball and stroked it into the net. 

Moments later the tie took another turn when Al Arabi was also reduced to 10 men, after defender Vivien Assie was given his second yellow of the match after a cynical tackle on Romarinho. Now with both teams on a equal footing El Jaish went about finding a winner. With seventy five minutes on the clock, Sabri Lamouchi’s side took a 3-2 lead thanks in part to a moment of magic from substitute  Abdulgadir Ilyas who produced a perfect cross for Sardor Rashidov for a simple tap in. 

Al Arabi showed plenty of fighting spirit and moments later captain Boualem Khoukhi curled in a powerful driven free-kick to level the scores at 3-3. The tie opened up in stoppage time with both sides looking for a winner, eventually it was Jaish who came out on top with a 91st minute winner from their stand out player Sardor Rashidov. 

On the breakaway, Jaish attacker Romarinho played a neat pass to Rashidov on the edge of the box. The Uzbekistan international exhibited plenty of class to curl the ball past Rajab Hamza for his second of the match to give Jaish a famous 4-3 victory, they same scoreline they defeated Al Arabi in their first match this season. 
 

Al Sadd keeps pressure on Lekhwiya with 1-0 win over Al Ahli

Al Sadd beat Al Ahli 1-0 in a hard-fought contest at Al Ahli Stadium in one of two late Monday QSL Round 15 kick offs.

The Wolves, who are still undefeated so far this season, secured a vital three points to keep the pressure up on league leaders Lekhwiya who beat Al Ghafara 3-1 in their 16:15 Round 15 kick off. Al Ahli came into the game desperate for three points to avoid being drawn into a relegation battle but left empty handed and continue their slip down the QSL table.

The game started at a frenetic pace with some decent spells of possession for both teams. Possession began to tilt in Al Ahli’s favour after ten minutes of play and the first proper attempt on goal came when their number 9, Abdul Raihman, watched his decent effort from 18 yards out take a minor deflection off the head of a defender and sail over the crossbar by a matter of inches.

Al Ahli continued to have the lion’s share of possession and the best chance of the first half came when their talismanic captain, Meshael, managed to get in front of his marker and make a dash towards the near post to connect with a fierce cross from Ali Fereydoun. Despite Meshael getting to Fereydoun’s cross first, Al Sadd’s Hamid Ismail did just enough to put him off and Meshael’s effort went just wide of the post.

Al Sadd finished the first half with five minutes of sustained pressure in Al Ahli’s half but didn’t manage to create any clear chances on goal and both teams went into the tunnel at 0-0.

The second half started much like the first half ended, with Al Sadd stepping it up a gear and dominating the game with their captain Xavi Hernandez doing what he does best and controlling the game from midfield. Al Sadd’s breakthrough came on the 56th minute when they managed to breakdown Al Ahli’s defence and their number 9, Meshaal Al Shammary, found himself within acres of space in the 18 yard box. Al Shammary took one touch before drilling the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.

Al Ahli didn’t let their heads drop though and kept looking for an equaliser. Unfortunately for them, it never came and Al Sadd leave with a vital three points to stay second, just two points behind Lekhwiya going into Round 16.