Al Rayyan’s star striker Rodrigo Tabata (right) celebrates with a team-mate after scoring a goal in this file photo.
A fully loaded Al Rayyan outfit will be looking to secure their place in the final of the QNB Stars League (QSL) Cup when they meet Al Kharaitiyat in the second semifinal at the Al Shamal Stadium tomorrow.
Al Rayyan, the first team to reach the last-four stage after their 1-0 victory over Umm Salal in Round 4, will also aim at making it to the final of the tournament for the first time in the history.
The history of QSL Cup shows that the past five editions saw different champions, with Al Rayyan failing to win the title.
Al Gharafa won the inaugural edition by defeating Al Ahli 5-0 in the final. Al Sadd emerged as victorious the following season with a 1-0 win over Umm Salal in the title clash. The 2011-12 season saw Al Wakrah being crowned the champions, followed by the now-defunct El Jaish and Qatar SC winning the next two editions.
Al Rayyan were the strongest team which reached the semi-finals and finished their group campaign unbeaten on 13 points. They beat Al Ahli (2-0, Round 1), Al Sadd (5-1, round 2) and Al Markhiya (5-2, Round 3) before being held by Umm Salal in the previous round.
Al Rayyan thus emerged as runaway leaders in Group B, which saw a fierce battle for the second semifinal berth between four teams, who were all on five points, ahead of the last-round matches. Eventually, Umm Salal pipped Al Ahli on better goal difference after both ended up with eight points.
Coach Michael Laudrup’s side is probably the top favourite to become the champions of this years QSL Cup, this year so far this season, they are third in the QNB Stars League standings with 25 points, behind Al Duhail (29) and Al Sadd (27), while Al Kharaitiyat are struggling at the 10th spot with only nine points.
Al Kharaitiyat reached the semifinals with 11 points (three victories and two draws). Like Al Rayyan, they also managed to stay unbeaten.
They went into their fifth-round fixture against Qatar SC, who needed to win by a two-goal margin to become the second side to progress behind Al Gharafa from Group A, with a winning mentality. And The Thunders did it in style by registering a 6-1 victory.
Al Kharaitiyat’s other wins were against Al Sailiya (3-1, Round 1) and Al Khor (4-2, Round 2), while they drew 4-4 with Al Duhail and 1-1 with Al Gharafa.
The winners will face Al Gharafa or Umm Salal in the final at the Qatar SC Stadium on Tuesday, 19th December.
Form and strength apart, Al Kharaitiyat, coached by Tunisian Ahmad Al Ajlani, are capable of springing a surprise and their rivals would be wary of that.
In today’s first semi-final, Group A leaders Al Gharafa will be looking to book a berth in the final, to give a shot at becoming the first team to win the QSL Cup twice.
Al Gharafa blanked Al Sailiya 4-0 in the last round to finish on 13 points with four wins and one draw. They thus topped Group A.
Umm Salal too had it easy against Al Markhiya, winning 3-0, but they finished with the same number of points (eight) as Al Ahli, who defeated Al Sadd. The Orange Fortress advanced on better goal difference (+3 as against Al Ahli’s 0).
Umm Salal ended up as Group B runners-up behind Al Rayyan with two wins, as many draws and one defeat.
Al Gharafa will sorely miss Slovakian attacking midfielder Vladimir Weiss, who is out of action for the rest of the season following a surgery done to correct his cruciate ligament knee injury. He was operated upon at Qatar’s orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital Aspetar.
However, the good form of captain Luis Jimenez, Othman Al Yahri, Amro Seraj and Almahdi Ali augur well for Frenchman Jean Fernandez’s side.
