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The Cheetahs beat Al Rayyan 3-2 in thrilling final to become only team in QSL Cup history to win the trophy twice
Ikoli victor
Doha
Al Gharafa made history as they clinched the QSL Cup for a second time with a hard fought 3-2 win over Al Rayyan at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium on Tuesday.
The thrilling final saw Luiz Jimenez score the opener in the very third minute, but Al Rayyan's top marksman Abderrazaq Hamdallah leveled the tie nine minutes later.
The action gathered steam as Amro Ali made it 2-1 for the Cheetahs before Ahmed Alaaeldin scored the third against his former club in the 64th minute. Veteran defender Mohammed Kasola reduced the deficit six minutes but Al Gharafa continued to hold sway.
Al Rayyan missed a chance to stretch the game to penalties when playmaker Rodrigo Tabata saw his kick parried to safety by goalkeeper Qasem Burhan.
Al Gharafa and Al Rayyan had advanced from the group stage as winners with 13 points each.
In the semi-finals, Al Gharafa defeated Umm Salal by an all-important goal scored by Monqeth Mohamed late into the game, while Al Rayyan prevailed over Al Kharaitiyat 2-0 through goals from Sebastian Soria and Daniel Goumou.
It was Gharafa who broke the deadlock in the opening minutes with Alaaeldin skipping his markers before releasing the ball for Jimenez inside the box that fired a low shot to beat Saoud Mubarak.
Gharafa's lead only lasted nine minutes as Rayyan pressed forward to get the much-needed goal. No one else but the sterling Tabata engineered the move with a perfect pass, lobbed over the Gharafa defence for Abderrazaq to smash into the net beyond Burhan.
The goal spurred coach Michael Laudrup's forward in search of another goal before the break and they left their back open for Gharafa to exploit. Amro dispossessed a Rayyan player in his own half then ran over 300 metres with electrifying pace to find Alaaeldin, who squared the ball for the 19-year-old to tap in from a close range.
A nicely worked move ended with Alaaeldin's long-range shot effort deflecting Kasola's leg to swerve past Mubarak into the post. The goal capped a Man-of-the-Match performance from the former Al Rayyan player.
However, Kasola redeemed his image with a goal from a corner kick with a powerful header that crashed at the top bar to unfortunately hit Burhan into his own net.
Burhan made amends by denying Tabata a penalty goal in the last ten minutes of the match, much to the joy of his teammates and coach.
The high tempo match saw the referee flash nine yellow cards, five for Gharafa and four for Al Rayyan.
Al Gharafa had earlier defeated Al Ahli 5-0 to win the inaugural edition in 2009. Previous winners of QSL Cup include Al Sadd (2010), Al Wakrah (2012), El Jaish (2013) and Qatar Sports Club (2014).
At the Whistle
Al Gharafa 3 (Luiz Jimenez 3’, Amro Abdelfatah Ali Surag 35’, Ahmed Alaaeldin 64’)
Al Rayyan 2 (A. Hamdallah 12’, Mohammed Kasola 70’).
