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ikoli victor
doha
Hamroun Jugurtha scored a brace as ten-man Al Sadd staved off the challenge of rival Al Rayyan to win 3-2 in a thrilling semi-final to qualify for the final of the Qatar Cup on Thursday.
The match played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium was the third meeting for both sides this season, with Xavi Hernandez's Al Sadd winning two games with high-scoring margins (5-0,4-1) in the Qatar Stars League.
Hamroun started the goals party with a clinical finish as early as 55 seconds after Hassan Haydos collecting Abdulkarim Hassan's cross, teed the ball for the Algerian at first sight to beat Oumar Barry. The early goal unsettled Rayyan and soon conceded a penalty following Victor Caceras ball handling of Haydos goal-bound strike. Haydos made no mistake and neatly dispatched the resultant kick for Sadd's second goal in the 21st minute.
Two minutes later, it was the third goal for the Wolves with Hamroun slotting the ball into the back of the net after Haydos squared the ball to his path.
Goalkeeper Oumar Barry's poor clearance cost his Rayyan side the goal as he had time to easily collect the cross but uncharacteristically punched the ball to Haydos.
Al Rayyan was expected to give a strong fight as promised by Michael Laudrup but conceding an early goal proved to be their undoing.
After scoring the opening goal, Hamroun had another chance to make it two but his effort was blocked by a legion of Rayyan legs. With Sadd's incessant pressure, the first yellow card of the game was flashed at Gonzalo Viera for impeding on Hamroun who was in flight into the Rayyan box in the 16th minute.
Rayyan's first real attempt on goal was Sergio Garcia's volley that hit the top far left of Sadd's post in the 34th minute. The Spanish player was Lions best performer in the half.
In the second half, Rayyan were in the ascendancy as they tried to cut the deficit but near misses and poor finishing denied the Lions an early goal.
Garcia's effort from inside the box was inches from target after a perfect team play to set up the Spanish forward. Garcia was on hand to provide the assist for South Korean Myong-Jin Ko to slot in from close range to make it 3-1 in the 54th minute.
Rayyan playing more purposeful now had a chance with a free-kick and dead ball specialist Tabata curled the ball that landed on rooftop of the net in the 61st minute.
Rayyan were given a lifeline when Mohammed Kasola was red carded after a second yellow card offence on Garcia in the 64th minute. Despite playing a man down, Al Sadd looked even more dangerous with counter breaks but lacked the cutting edge upfront.
Rayyan missed a great chance as unmarked Soria headed the ball wide missed from close range, with the ball planted to his head from a beautiful cross with 19 minutes remaining in the clock.
Garcia scored a spectacular goal with a curling strike to beat the Sadd keeper to give Rayyan hope of levelling the level the tie in the 74th minute. Chances after chances came for both sides, first was Tabata who should have equalised but fired the ball inches away from target.
Rayyan substitute Alaaeldin thought he had equalised when his header looked destined for the net but somehow crashed to the bar.
Al Sadd patiently waited for their turn and it was the danger man Hamroun who missed a chance to score his hat-trick as he blazed the ball wide with Barry at his mercy for the last action of the match.
Haydos was named man-of-the match with his two assists and goal.
Al Sadd will now play the winner of Friday's second Qatar Cup semi-final between QSL champions Lekhwiya and current Qatar Cup holders El Jaish.
Lekhwiya will be without Yusef Msakni and Chico Flores for the game, after only just returning to training on Wednesday.
Whilst leading scorer Youssef El Arabi is out for the remainder of the season due to injury.
For El Jaish, it is another shot at the Qatar Cup they won last season.
Both teams have merged into Al Duhail Sports Club from next season and it will be interesting to see how the management would select players and coaches to form a fresh team for the 2017-18 season.
