Tomorrow, Saturday, the eighteenth round of the Qatari Football League (QNB Stars League) will start, amid Al Duhail’s search to retain the top spot in the standings table through a victory that keeps the leadership safe from the aspirations of the second-placed Al-Arabi. Five matches will be held over the course of three days, after the confrontation between Al Rayyan and Qatar Club was postponed to April 23 due to the latter’s association with the first leg match of the preliminary round of the King Salman Cup for Arab Football Clubs against Tunisian Sfaxien. Al-Duhail, who collected 39 points, seeks to avoid any surprise that Al-Sailiya might bring, with only 9 points, in search of a victory that temporarily raises the difference from the second Al-Arabi to five full points, with a postponed match preference for the leader against Al-Rayyan. The team of Argentine coach Hernan Crespo will enter the confrontation ecstatic about the first titles of the current football season, after being crowned champions of the Irid Cup after defeating Umm Salal in the final match with a goal without a response last Tuesday, which constitutes a great moral boost for the players in order to continue weaving in the same manner of victories, hoping to win Restore the league title, which it relinquished to rivals Al Sadd in the past two seasons. On the other hand, Al-Sailiya lives in difficult conditions after it is slowly approaching direct relegation to the ranks of second-division clubs with modest results that made it accept 12 losses in exchange for two wins and three draws, which prompted the management to appoint coach Mirghani Al-Zein at the head of the technical management of the team, while the former coach was named Tunisian Sami Trabelsi, a technical advisor, sought to save the team that desperately needed every point in the last five rounds to avoid the difficult fate of falling to the second division. Al-Duhail seems likely to win, especially in light of the recovery of a number of players who were absent from the team during the international break in March, led by Kenyan Michael Olunga, the league’s top scorer with 13 goals. In turn, Al-Arabi, who is in second place with 37 points, is looking forward to continuing the victories when it meets Umm Salal, who is in the penultimate position with 13 points, hoping for three points that will bring the balance to point 40, which may be sufficient to pounce on the lead in the event of losing Al-Duhail, or Participate in it if the leader fails to tie. The confrontation will be revenge for the team of the national coach Yunus Ali, who lost to Umm Salal in the semi-finals of the Irid Cup in a fatal time with two goals to one, although that loss may be justified in light of the absence of the five foreign professionals and the non-participation of most of the main players in exchange for relying on young elements . But Al-Arabi’s task may not be easy in light of the good levels presented by the team of Moroccan coach Talal Al-Karkouri, and this is evidenced by the high-end image that he showed in the Arid Cup final against Al-Duhail, when he was the best side and lost hard and with a goal without a response, wasting many easy opportunities.
The eighteenth round of the Qatar Football League (QNB Stars League) is witnessing a strong confrontation between Al-Sadd, who finished third with 32 points, and Al-Wakra, fourth, with 27 points, in light of the great glow of the two teams in recent times. Al-Sadd, who was crowned champion for the past two editions, hopes to maintain its previous chances of retaining the title, by reaching the 35th point and reducing the difference with the leaders and runners-up, as the remaining five matches do not accept any points being forfeited, and therefore the victory will be tantamount to correcting the situation for the Spanish coach Juanma Leo and his players. After losing to Al-Duhail with a goal to three in the semi-finals of the Arid Cup. On the other hand, Al-Wakra overcame a difficult period at the level of results, and regained full strength after achieving two victories and a draw in the last three matches, confirming the offensive strength after scoring ten goals in the three matches, which means that the three points will be a goal for the Spanish coach Marques Lopez in order to maintain fourth place and remain a side. in competition. The great offensive effectiveness seems to be a common denominator between the two teams, as Al Sadd is counting on the return of its Algerian striker Baghdad Bounedjah, who was absent from the last match against Al Duhail in the Arid Cup due to his presence with his country, in addition to continuing the glow of the star Akram Afif, the best player in February and March, according to the choice of the Qatar Stars League. While Al-Wakra depends on the Algerian Mohamed Ben Yatto, along with the Angolan Jacinto Dalla, the second top scorer, with 12 goals. In turn, Al-Gharafa seeks to achieve a second successive victory after the victory in the last round against Umm Salal with two goals to one, in order to continue striving towards reaching fourth place, when it faces Al-Markhiya, who continued to write a line and left another, as it suffered a loss in the last round against Al-Rayyan after he had Beat Al Sailiya in the round before last. Al-Gharafa ranks fifth with 26 points, and therefore it seems a good opportunity to reach fourth place in the event of victory and Al-Wakra stumbling. By eight points from the relegation playoffs, four rounds before the end of the championship, with the advantage of a postponed match with Al-Shamal. The two wounded Yemenis, Al-Ahly and Al-Shamal, compensate for the loss in the past two rounds, in search of correcting the situation in a direct confrontation, despite the divergence of goals between Al-Ahly’s endeavor to remain a party to the competition equation for being in the golden square of the league, as it currently occupies seventh place with 21 points, which makes the three points in It is very important to reach the desired goal, while the tenth north hopes, with 14 points, with a postponed match with Al-Markhiya, to move away from the danger areas and take a step towards safety. In terms of the standings table, Al-Duhail maintained the lead with 39 points, Al-Arabi came runner-up with 37 points, Al-Sadd third with 32 points, Al-Wakra fourth with 27 points, Al-Gharafa fifth with 26 points, ahead of Qatar Club sixth with the same balance, and Al-Ahly seventh. With 21 points, Al Markhiya eighth with 18 points, Al Rayyan ninth with 16 points, Al Shamal tenth with 14 points and Umm Salal in eleventh place with 13 points, while Al Sailiya ranks last with 9 points.
