Al-Duhail team was crowned the title of the 11th edition of the “I want” football championship for the season 2022-2023, after defeating Umm Salal with a clean goal in the final match that took place today at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.
Al-Duhail, who won the title for the first time in its history, owes credit for the victory to South Korean player Nam Tae-hee, who scored the winning goal and the only game in the 37th minute. Al-Duhail, the leaders of the (QNB Stars League) standings, won its first title this season, and it is also the first title for Argentine coach Hernan. Crespo, who took over the job in March of the year 2022, succeeding the Portuguese Luis Castro.
The match took turns controlling the course of the game, which witnessed many technical moments, and both teams presented a good level throughout the two halves. Umm Salal showed a distinguished level during the course of the first half and knew how to impose his style in the midfield and his success in moving the ball across the three lines. In the back lines of Al-Duhail team.
On the other hand, Al-Duhail tried to maintain a state of defensive balance and managed to take possession of the ball, but the focus was absent in front of the Umm Salal goal. During the first minutes, Umm Salal had several chances to score, most notably the attempt of Jordanian Yassin Al-Bakhit, who almost gave his team the lead in the 19th minute when he ran away from more than one defender and shot a powerful ball, but Shihab Al-Laithi, Al-Duhail goalkeeper, saved the situation brilliantly and pushed the ball away to a corner kick.
And with the 37th minute, South Korean Nam Tae He took advantage of the pass that reached him from his colleague Ismail Muhammad and sent a powerful ball from the outskirts of the area that hit the right corner of the Umm Salal goalkeeper Khalifa Abu Bakr.
In the second half, Al-Duhail was able to control the keys to playing Umm Salal, who maintained his offensive style and did not retreat back. For his part, Argentine Hernan Crespo resorted to involving Khaled Mohamed in place of Karim Boudiaf in an effort to maintain the balance of the midfield, before then pushing Qatari defender Bassam Al-Rawi to replace striker Mohamed Muntari. Umm Salal’s efforts failed to score Al Duhail through several attempts by Portuguese Joao Teixeira, the most dangerous of which was the powerful shot saved by goalkeeper Shihab Al-Laithi in the 82nd minute.
Qatar striker Al-Moez Ali almost destroyed Umm Salal’s hopes by adjusting the score, and missed the opportunity to double the score after he aimed a ball into the small square. However, Umm Salal defender Abdullah Khafifi pushed his ball away in time for the final whistle, which declared Al Duhail crowned champion of this version. Al-Duhail had reached the final match after defeating Al-Sadd in the semi-finals by 3-1. This was preceded by its lead in Group B in the first round of the tournament, collecting 13 points from four wins and one draw.
While Umm Salal qualified for the final after overcoming Al-Arabi in the semi-final round with two goals to one, and that was preceded by its lead in Group A in the first round with 13 points from four wins and one draw without a loss. It is noteworthy that the championship was launched in the year 2009, and Al-Gharafa crowned its first edition in the 2009-2010 season.
