Al-Duhail, the holder of the Emir Football Cup title, reached the quarter-finals of the fifty-first edition of the tournament, after overcoming Al-Kharaitiyat, from the second division, with a goal without a response, in the meeting that brought them together today at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium in the final price round.
Al-Duhail set a date in the next round with the winner from the confrontation between Al-Rayyan and Al-Sailiya, scheduled for tomorrow / Tuesday / in the final price. The only goal of the match was scored by Ismail Mohamed in the 12th minute. The differences between the two teams began to be large, despite Argentine Hernan Crespo keeping a number of his main players on the bench, such as Kenyan striker Michael Olonga, Al Moez Ali, and Karim Boudiaf, while Al Kharaitiyat relied on a group of young players in the absence of most foreign professional players due to injury. Al-Duhail imposed an absolute advantage over the course from the start, and the second minute was barely complete until Ismail Mohamed faced the goalkeeper after a Tunisian pass by Ferjani Sassi, but his powerful shot hit the crossbar, before Ismail scored the first goal when Louis Junior’s pass put him in front of the goal, so he did not find any trouble. In depositing the ball into the net in the 12th minute. Al-Duhail’s dominance continued, and Muhammad Muntari almost scored a second goal through a header, but his ball went over the crossbar (21), before Ismail returned to confront the goalkeeper again from Ahmed Moein’s pass behind the defense, but he shot quickly this time next to Al-Qaim (31), so that the remaining minutes passed without success for Al-Duhail in consolidating the score, so that the first half ended with a single goal. The scene was repeated in the second half through the absolute control of Al-Duhail, who almost added a second goal through Abdulaziz Muhammad, who faced the goalkeeper, but he shot over the crossbar (52), before the offensive efficiency declined in light of the defensive intensity imposed by Al-Kharaitiyat. Despite the changes made by Argentine Hernan Crespo, coach of Al Duhail, by putting Khalid Mohammed and then Abdullah Haroun to enhance the offensive work, nothing new happened at the level of the result, so that the defending champion was satisfied with a single goal that gave him a place in the quarter-finals.
