Al gharafa: Al Gharafa enjoyed an emphatic 3-1 win over Al Arabi in a strong match in Week 9 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Thani bin Jassim Stadium of Al Gharafa club on Thursday. Yacine Brahimi (21st minute), Joselu (76th minute), and Mohammad Muntari (89th minute) scored for Al Gharafa, who increased their points tally to 15, while Al Arabi's solitary goal came through Yousef Msakni in the 62nd minute as they remained on 10 points. According to Qatar News Agency, the fast-paced game saw the first attempts fall to Al Arabi through Msakni, whose right-footed shot from outside the box in the second minute from Abdou Diallo's assist was however blocked. The two sides kept poking at each other with their attacking and defending moves, but without any major result until the 21st minute when Al Gharafa's Brahimi found the back of the net with a right-footed shot from the center of the box after collecting a well-delivered weighed pass from Florinel Coman, whose overhead pass evaded Al Arabi defenders before landing at the Algerian's feet. Ferjani Sassi almost doubled the lead for Al Gharafa two minutes later, only to have his shot from the center of the box miss narrowly to the left. This time, the assist was from Brahimi. With the clock ticking, Al Arabi went on a desperate search for an equalizer, but all their efforts were equally matched by The Cheetahs' line of defense which ensured that the dream of a goal in the first 45 minutes turned out to be a pipe dream for The Dream Team. The concluding half was not much different from the first in the pattern of play from both sides, with Al Gharafa doing most of the attacking while Al Arabi had some occasional spells upfront, mostly during fast counterattacks. A moment of snoozing saw Al Gharafa's lead disappear in the 62nd minute when Al Arabi secured their equalizer through a quickly taken corner kick from Rodri Sanchez. That was driven home by Msakni while rival defense was still trying to position themselves for the kick. A stunned Al Ghara fa mounted an offensive to restore their lead almost immediately and Joselu almost did just that three minutes later, but was flagged for an offside. The wait for the lead goal became over for Al Gharafa in the 76th minute, with Joselu tapping in from close range after substitute Jamal Hamed, who came in for Ahmed Al Janahi, laid up a splendid diagonal pass to the Spaniard after beautifully controlling a long-range overhead pass, for the simplest of finishing to restore their lead. Al Arabi, who enjoyed a 4-1 victory over Qatar SC in the previous week, had their hopes of getting at least a point from the highly-entertaining match extinguished in the 89th minute when Muntari made an instant impact within a minute of coming in as he fired home the third goal for Al Gharafa to literally put the match to bed for The Cheetahs.
Friday, November 01, 2024