The 2020-21 season Ooredoo Cup’s knockout quarterfinals were played on Sunday and Monday (15th and 16th November, 2020), with Al Wakrah, Al Sailiya, Al Gharafa and Al Rayyan qualifying for the semifinals.
All four quarterfinals - Al Wakrah vs Al Kharitiyat, Al Arabi vs Al Sailiya, Al Gharafa vs Al Sadd and Al Khor vs Al Rayyan – lived up to their billing.
Two matches ended in penalty shoot-out, with Al Arabi vs Al Sailiya even going to sudden death.
Al Wakrah were the first to reach the semifinals by beating Al Kharaitiyat 4-3 on penalties (1-1 after regular time).
Mohamed Benyettou put Al Wakrah ahead in the ninth minute, but Daniel Goumou equalised for Al Kharaitiyat in the 71st minute. With a 1-1 scoreline, the match was straightaway pushed to the tie-breaker, as stipulated by the tournament rule in the event of a tie, without extra time.
Al Kharaitiyat’s Oumar Sako and Abdulmajid Anad missed their spot kicks. Al Wakrah won after all of their four players converted the penalties.
Lucas Mendes, Mohamed Benyettou, Salih Mohamed Al Yahri and Murad Naji scored from the penalty spot for Al Wakrah, while only Rachid Tiberkanine, Evans Mensah and Moustapha Alhaje could score from the spot for Al Kharaitiyat.
The second quarterfinal between Al Arabi and Al Sailiya was also decided on penalties, with the latter winning 5-4 in sudden death (2-2 after regular time and 4-4 after tie-breaker).
Abdulaziz Al Ansari (24th minute) and Ibrahim Nasser Kalla (33rd minute) scored for Al Arabi, while Ahmed Hammoudan (78th minute) and substitute Abdulqadir Ilyas (86th minute) scored for Al Sailiya in regular time.
In the tie-breaker, Tiago Bezerra, Ilyas, Serigne Mbodji and Majdi Siddiq scored for Al Sailiya, while Fahad Waad’s shot was blocked by Al Arabi goalkeeper Sataa Al Abbasi.
For Al Arabi, Hamdi Harbaoui, Marc Martinez, Gaser Yahia and Sebastian Soria converted from the spot, whereas Ahmed Abotrika was off-target (even with his retake of a shot), thus forcing the sudden death.
After Al Sailiya’s Abdulla Al Marri found the target, Al Arabi’s Mohammed Bader Sayyar’s shot was blocked by Al Sailiya goalkeeper Amine Lecomte with his leg, signalling a famous victory for The Peregrines.
Al Gharafa made the cut with a 4-2 win over reigning champions Al Sadd. Sofiane Hanni (27th and 83rd minute-penalty), Koo Ja-Cheol (48th minute) and Othman Al Yahri (86th minute) were The Cheetah’s scorers.
Rodrigo Tabata (52nd minute) and Santiago Cazorla (73rd-minute penalty) were on target for Al Sadd.
Al Rayyan progressed to the last eight by beating Al Khor 1-0, with Abdulrahman Al Harazi scoring the all-important goal in the 43rd minute.
Source: qsl.qa