Defending champs Sadd enter quarters

Al Sadd Youssef Abdul Razzaq (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Muaither in their Amir Cup football tournament at the Grand Hamad Stadium on Sunday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Defending champions Al Sadd entered the quarter-finals of the Amir Cup defeating Muaither 1-0 at the Grand Hamad Stadium, on Sunday.Youssef Abdul Razzaq scored the lone goal of the game in the 14th minute. Al Sadd will now meet the winner of the game between Al Ahli and Al Markhiya in the quarter-final.Al Sadd went on the attack from the word go, and they managed to create a few chances early on. In the fifth minute, Rodrigo Tabata came very close to scoring with a powerful strike that went out of the post.The deadlock was broken in the 14th minute, when Youssef found the target from close range after the Muaither keeper kept out Akram Afif’s initial shot. After the goal, a period of calm ensued with Al Sadd dominating possession but unable to carve out concrete opportunities, and the first half went on to end with the score intact.In the second-half, Al Sadd tried to extend the lead, and Tabata sent a fierce shot at goal but Muaither custodian Moaied Shanan kept it out for a corner. Al Sadd coach Javi Gracia then brought on Baghdad Bounedjah and Ali Asad to freshen up the attack.Boualem Khoukhi threatened the Muaither goal in the 80th minute, with a powerful shot from outside the box, only to see the keeper save it. Despite continued pressure, Al Sadd could not add another goal, and the game finished with the 1-0 score-line that saw the team through to the quarter-finals.Coach Javi Gracia stressed the importance of his side’s win over Muaither.“To play these kinds of games is not easy for the team. The objective was to keep going in this competition and we achieved it,” said Gracia. “We were looking forward to the Amir Cup because we want to reach the final. It was not easy for us because we are playing a lot of matches, playing every 3-4 days. It was good to get the result knowing it was not the best performance for us.”Captain Hassan al-Haydos was happy with his team’s performance, but said the team must rectify mistakes. “Our performance was not that good especially for our fans, but in such matches the most important thing is to win and qualify for the next stage of the tournament,” al-Haydos said after the win.  “We have enough time to correct our mistakes as we wasted many scoring chances, which is repeated for the second time in a row after the last match in the league,” Al Sadd captain said. Al Sadd will now meet the winner of today’s last-16 clash between Al Ahli and Al Markhiya to be played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. Qatar SC also advanced to the quarter-finals after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Al Shamal. Bashar Rasan fired the winner for Qatar SC in the 68th minute after Al Shamal’s Mohamed El Sayed (40th minute) cancelled Djamel Benlamri’s 25th minute goal.