Al Sadd stay top with a victory in “Al Clasico”

Football Qatar – QSL League – Week Seven

Al Sadd continued their recent fine form in the Qatar Stars League on Saturday as they eased to a convincing 4-1 victory over Al Rayyan.

The game known in Qatar as “Al Clasico” due to the huge popularity of both teams, saw another fine performance by Al Sadd who went behind after 23 minutes after Pascal Feindouno gave Al Rayyan the lead from a free kick.

But Brazilian Leandro da Silva leveled the score three minutes later after receiving a nice through ball from his compatriot Afonso Alves.

Seven minutes after the interval Majdi Sediq sent a neat cross from a free kick in the left, and Ali Afif met it at the near post with a perfect header past goalkeeper Omar Barry to give Al Sadd the lead.

Al Sadd continued to attack and Sediq was once again the creator when he sent another perfect cross this time from the right, and Afonso Alves jumped high between the defenders to head in Al Sadd’s third.

Afif scored Al Sadd’s fourth goal in the 68th minute following a perfectly executed counter attack to put the match beyond doubt.

The result will put more pressure on Al Rayyan Brazilian coach Marcos Paqueta, with rumors already beginning to spread that his compatriot Paolo Autore is set to return to the helm.
Al Sadd stayed top of the league with 19 points, two clear from defending champions Al Gharrafa.

Al Gharrafa keep pressure on leaders

Football Qatar – QSL League – Week Seven

Defending QSL champions Al Gharrafa kept pressure on leaders Al Sadd on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Al Kharitiyath.

Defender Ibrahim Al Ghanem gave the “Leopards” the lead after just ten minutes with a near-post header after a well-executed corner by Brazilian Juninho.

Twelve minutes from time, Juninho was involved again when he sent another cross into the area, and the defense failed to clear properly to let Clemerson seal the important victory for the Yellow and Blue team.

Metsu names squad for second European tour

French coach Bruno Metsu announced the Qatar squad that will face Paraguay and Belgium in their European tour next week.

Qatar will meet Paraguay in Paris on November 14th, before traveling to the small town of Sedan to face Belgium on the 18th.

The most notable change in the squad is the absence of Sebastian Soria due to injury.

The tour is part of the team’s preparations for the 15th Asian Cup Finals that will to be hosted by Qatar in early 2011.

Last October, Qatar played three matches as part of the first European tour, losing to Croatia in Zagreb 2-3 and to Macedonia in Skopje 1-2, before ending the tour with a 2-2 against RD Congo in Paris.

Goalkeepers

Saad Al Shib (Al Sadd)
Qassim Burhan (AL Gharrafa)
Baba malick (Umm Salal)

Defenders

Mosaad Al Hamad (Al Sadd)
Taher Zakaria (Al Sadd)
Ibrahim Majid (Al Sadd)
Bilal Mohamed (Al Gharrafa)
Ibrahim Al Ghanem (Al Gharrafa)
Khaled Al Zekiba (Qatar sc)

Midfielders

Majdi Sediq (Al Sadd)
Talal Al Baloushi (Al Sadd)
Mohamed Abdul Rab (Al Sadd)
Ahmed Faris (Al Gharrafa)
Mohamed Yasser (Al Rayyan)
Waheed Mohamed (Al Sailiyah)
Fabio Cesar (Umm Salal)
Fadl Omar (Qatar sc)
Mohamed Omar (Qatar sc)

Attackers

Ali Hassan Afif (Al Sadd)
Majid Mohamed (Al Sadd)
Hassan Al Haidos (Al Sadd)
Yousef Ahmed (Qatar sc)

Umm Salal beat Al Khor

Umm Salal continued their momentum in the Qatar Stars League with a 1-0 win over ten-man Al Khor in the seventh round.

The only goal of the match came in the 77th minute after a neat cross from the right by Nabeel Anwar, was chested down by Magno Alves to Qatari international Fabio Cesar who sent a nice left-foot shot past AL Khor’s goalkeeper.

AL Khor played with ten men since the 33rd minute after Iraqi defender Salam Shaker was sent off for a foul from behind on Brazilian Davi.

Winning start for Cesa

Brazilian Cesa made a winning start to his tenure as coach of Al Ahli’s first team by defeating Al Arabi 2-1 on Friday, in the seventh round of Qatar Stars League.

Cesa was the youth team coach at the club until last week when he took over the first team job, after his compatriot Ricardo Ferreira was sacked due to poor results.

Ivorian striker Tia Olivier created the first goal for Brazilian Wagner after 11 minutes, before scoring the second goal himself in the 27th minute.

Brazilian Cabore snatched the only goal for Arabi early in the second half, his fourth goal this season.

Al Ahli defended well till the final whistle to hand Arabi their first defeat of the season.

With Argentinean star Leonardo Pisculichi out till March after suffering a foot injury last week, Al Arabi’s midfield looked relatively weak and a replacement for the Argentinean star is a must if they aim to challenge for top spot or at least a top four finish.

Ramzi nets four as Wakrah thump Shamal

Former Moroccan international Adil Ramzi scored four goals as he led Al Wakrah to an emphatic 7-0 win over Al Shamal in the seventh round of Qatar Stars League.

Newly promoted Al Shamal stayed bottom of the table with three points after suffering their fourth straight loss and surely their Brazilian coach Robertinho is feeling the heat.

Ramzi opened the score in the 8th minute after benefiting from Shamal's Adel Darwish defensive blunder. He then added a second form the penalty spot in the 22nd minute.

Another Moroccan, Younis Al Hawassi headed in the third goal four minutes later after a fine cross from Mohamed Al Sulaiti.

Shamal's defense totally collapsed in the second half and Al Hawassi scored his second goal of the night in the 63rd minute, before Ramzi completed his hat-trick with another free header.

To make matters worse Darwish scored an own goal in the 79th minute when he turned in Al Khater's low cross.

In injury time Ramzi rubbed salt into the wound by scoring the last goal of the night with a perfect volley over the advancing goalkeeper.

Historic win for Al Sailiyah

A single goal from Ismail Ali was enough to give Al Sailiyah a valuable 1-0 win over Qatar sc in round seven of the Qatar Stars League.

It was Sailiyah's first ever win over Qatar sc since their first appearance at the Premier division in 2003.

Qatar sc played with ten minute for most of the game after their Moroccan defender Youssef Safri was sent off in the 36th minute.

The only goal of the game came thirteen minutes from time when Qatari international Waheed Mohamed sent a perfect long ball from near the half line to the advancing full back Ismail Ali who met it with a strong left foot shot past the goalkeeper Mohamed Mubarak.

"An important win, we were able to get back on our feet after our heavy defeat against Wakrah last week, I congratulate my players although they made many mistakes during the match" Bosnian Coach Džemal Hadžiabdić (Sailiyah) said after the match.

On the other hand Brazilian coach Sebastian Lazaroni (Qatar sc) said that his team played well, but the absence of his top scorer Sebastian Soria and the early red card for Safri played a huge part in the match's outcome.

Watch the goal of the match at Al Dawri & Al Kass Channel

http://www.alkass.net/dev/zee/video_view.aspx?vidid=1292

Qatar Stars League – Week 7 – Quick Preview

The highlight of Qatar Stars League week seven will be the Saturday clash between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan.

Al Sadd are top of the table with 16 points. Two points clear of their arch rivals Al Gharrafa, while Al Rayyan are struggling in mid table and they were crushed by Al Gharrafa 1-4 in Week six.

Al Sadd and Al Rayyan are two of the most popular clubs in Qatar and the match is dubbed by the local media as the “Classico”.

Last season, all their clashes in the Qatar Stars League ended in a draw (2-2, 1-1, and 1-1).

Week 7 – Fixtures

05/11/2009

Sailiyah – Qatar sc (18:00)
Wakrah – Shamal (20:00)

06/11/2009

Umm Salal – Khor (18:00)
Arabi – Ahli (20:00)

07/11/2009

Gharrafa – Kharthiyath (18:00)
Rayyan – Sadd (20:00)