DOHA (Qatar): Al Gharafa fought back to hold Qatar SC 2-1 in the Qtr Stars League at the latter’s home ground on Sunday.
Qatar SC’s goals were scored by Ahmed Fadel (41st minute) and Youcef Belaili (45+2 penalty), while Al Gharafa replied through goals from Ahmed Al Janehi (54th minute) and Jonathan Kodjia (59th-minute penalty).
Qatar SC and Al Gharafa are now on 20 and 23 points respectively.
The match kicked off in spectacular fashion with Belaili aiming for the goal on the second touch a couple of feet away from the half-line. His long-range shot was not way off the mark as the ball sailed above keeper Yousef Hassan’s head and landed on top of the net.
As the players settled into a groove, Al Gharafa’s Koo Ja-Cheol attempted a long-range shot in the 13th minute, close to the edge of the box, that went wayward.
Belaili’s second serious attempt at goal – this time from close range – was made possible by a long cross from Hamed Ismail. Chased by an Al Gharafa defender, Belaili charged into the box but his header – lacking in speed – was parried away by the goalkeeper in the 18th minute.
Al Gharafa’s influential Algerian midfielder Sofiane Hanni – after a short cross from Homam Elamin – also failed to find the net as he hit the ball straight to keeper Jassim Al Hail despite having time and space to work on his shot close to the half hour mark.
The long session of hits and misses came to end – via a VAR call in the 43rd minute – when Fadel on an assist by Alejandro Galvez fired into the lower right of the Al Gharafa goal. The referee used the VAR review to check the potential off-side call before allowing the goal to stay.
In injury time, Al Gharafa’s Tameem Al Muhaza brought Belaili down with a rough sliding tackle resulting in a penalty. Qatar SC went 2-0 up as Belaili easily converted the spot kick.
Trailing by two goals, Al Gharafa hit back with two quick goals in the second half.
First, Al Janehi jumped high to tap a cross into the net from close range.
Then, Kodjia converted a penalty kick awarded after he was brought down inside the box and the referee awarded the penalty after a VAR review.
A quarter of an hour later, Kodjia nearly scored a winner from close range on a long cross from Hanni. However, Kodjia’s quick-footed drive was pouched by Qatar SC keeper.
(Source: QSL)
