DOHA (Qatar): Al Wakrah thrashed Al Sadd 5-0 in their Group A match of 2020-21 Ooredoo Cup at the Qatar SC Stadium on Tuesday.
It was Al Wakrah’s third win from five matches as they topped the group with 11 points. Al Sadd, who fielded mostly youngsters, remained on seven points.
Both teams qualified for the knockout quarterfinals as the first and fourth team from the group respectively.
Cristian Ceballos (third-minute penalty), Mohamed Benyettou (ninth and 59th minutes), Ousmane Coulibaly (18th minute) and Isaias Sanchez (56th minute) scored the goals.
Al Wakrah hit the ground running by opening the scoring early. Al Sadd’s Mahmoudsafe Korayem was guilty of a rough tackle on Ceballos inside his own box. The referee pointed to the spot and Ceballos easily scored off the penalty kick.
Al Wakrah doubled their lead when Benyettou grabbed a loose ball on the edge of Al Sadd box and quickly fired a powerful shot that bounced in front of goalkeeper Jehad Mohammad. The ball hit the keeper’s right hand and crashed into the net. VAR was referred to check whether Al Wakrah’s Jassim Al Jalabi was off-side before the goal was confirmed.
Al Wakrah went 3-0 up when Coulibaly produced a classy snap-header off a corner kick. Despite pressure from an Al Sadd defender, Coulibaly smartly deflected the ball into the net giving, keeper Jehad no chance to stop the ball.
In the last seven minutes of first half, Al Wakrah’s Omar Ali twice missed relatively easy chances to score. On the first occasion, he had only defender Talal Abdulla barely two metres away on the goalline to beat and moments later the Al Sadd keeper blocked his header from close range.
After the break, Al Wakrah continued their goal-scoring act. Isaias scored their fourth goal with a powerful strike from just outside the Al Sadd box.
That was followed by Benyettou’s second goal of the match.
