The referee shows the red card to Al Sadd’s Abdelkerem Hassan (right) during the Amir Cup semi-final played at the Al Sadd Stadium yesterday. Picture: Mohamed Farag
Doha: Al Duhail rode on a brilliant goal by Almoez Ali against 10-man Al Sadd to make it to the final of the Amir Cup.
In a thrilling semi-final which took place at the Al Sadd Stadium yesterday, Ali scored the winner in the 68th minute when he beat Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad Abdulla Al Dosari from close range inside the box.
The semi-final saw the Qatar Cup finalists confronting each other in an aggressive manner and several incidents of unwanted confrontations and provocations during the match.
In the 28th minute, Al Sadd’s forward Hassan Al Haydos went down in what appeared to be a foul play by Dami Terawari, and the referee opted to go for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and the appeal was denied.
Seconds before the half-time break, Al Sadd suffered a huge blow when their feared defender Abdelkerem Hassan was shown the red card by the referee following a rough tackle on a rival player.
The teams were locked goalless at the end of half time.
Al Duhail took the advantage of the extra man and made several attempts to score in the second half.
Just after Ali scored, Al Duhail almost doubled the lead when skipper Luiz Martin Jr. struck from outside the box with a brilliant kick in the 70th minute, only to see the ball bounce off the goal post.
Al Duhail will now eye their third domestic title after enjoying the silverware in the QNB Stars League as well as Qatar Cup.
They will confront the winners of today’s second semi-final between Al Gharafa and Al Rayyan on May 19.
