The 2018-19 season QSL Cup kicked off on Saturday evening with three matches in Group A. Al Duhail beat Al Kharaitiyat 2-1 at the Al Duhail Stadium, Umm Salal defeated Al Arabi 1-0 at the Qatar SC Stadium and Al Gharafa drew 1-1 with Qatar SC, also at the Qatar SC Stadium.
In Group B fixtures on Sunday, Al Sadd will take on Al Shahania, (18:10) at the Qatar SC Stadium, Al Rayyan face Al Ahli (18:10) at the Al Gharafa Stadium and Al Sailiya play Al Khor (20:20) at the Al Duhail Stadium.
Al Duhail 2 Al Kharaitiyat 1
Al Duhail collected full points against Al Kharaitiyat and they deserved them.
Al Duhail opened the scoring in the 27th minute through Fahd Al Bayati and the second goal came off the head of Mohammed Muntari at the end of first half.
Al Duhail’s technical staff were keen to give some young players the chance, while Al Kharaitiyat mostly fielded their regular players.
Both teams tried to gain advantage at the start, but Al Duhail showed a big desire and were rewarded by two goals going into the break.
Al Kharaitiyat’s efforts paid off in the form of a goal in the 73rd minute through Abdullah Al Anzi.
Al Kharaitiyat players then paid the price for not applying the finishing touch.
Umm Salal 1 Al Arabi 0
Umm Salal took the lead in the 22nd minute through Ismail Mahmoud and that turned out to be the winning goal.
Umm Salal, with most of their main players in action, showed a good performance in the first half as they were good at both attacking and defending.
In the process, they could successfully thwart the rival attempts at their goal.
They tried hard to score again only to be denied by an alert defence by Al Arabi.
In the second half, Al Arabi put up a far better performance and created chances many times, but Umm Salal held their nerve and on to their lead to emerge as the winners.
Al Gharafa 1 Qatar SC 1
Defending champions Al Gharafa and Qatar SC shared points following a 1-1 draw.
Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o put Qatar SC ahead in the 35th minute, while Al Gharafa replied through Fahd Al Shammari’s penalty conversion in the 89th.
Al Gharafa started off strongly and launched some attacks, but it was Qatar SC who surged ahead through Eto’o, who found the mark with a header off a corner kick.
In the second half, Al Gharafa kept up pressure even as rival goalkeeper Rajab Hamza continued to show his brilliance that saw him thwart Muad Hassan in the 59th minute when the latter had a clear opportunity to score.
Qatar SC almost scored again in the 65th minute. However, Al Gharafa goalkeeper Qasim Burhan did well to foil Omar Al Emadi’s attempt.
Al Gharafa reaped rewards for their continuous efforts to equalise as they earned a penalty towards the end.
Source: qsl.qa