Al Rayyan all but secured their top four position in the Qatar Stars League (QSL) league after beating bottom of the table Al Wakrah 4-0 at Al Sadd's Jassim Bin Hamad stadium in the first of two Round 23 Saturday fixtures.
Lions head coach Michael Laudrup will be pleased to see his men firmly bounce back from their 2-1 loss to Al Hilal in the Champions League and regain some form as the league nears its climax. Al Wakrah now look almost certain for relegation as the defeat leaves them rooted to the bottom of the league, two points adrift of second from bottom Muaither SC and seven points from safety.
Both teams had decent spells of possession in the first 20 minutes but it was Al Rayyan who soon settled into a rhythm and stepped up their game, dominating possession and the midfield as they searched for their first goal. It was Rayyan's captain, Rodrigo Tabata, who first hit the back of the net for The Lions on the 29th minute after he found himself on the back post and able to head home from barely a yard out after a pin point cross from Sebastian Soria.
Wakrah should have equalised on the 42nd minute after they were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Wakrah's captain Mohsine Moutouali who failed to test the goalkeeper and instead smashed the spot kick way over the crossbar.
Just minutes later Rayyan doubled their lead thanks to a goalkeeping blunder from Wakrah's Mohmad Abdulla. The Waves' goalkeeper failed to deal with a long range free kick from Tabata and the ball rebounded off his chest and straight into the path of Rayyan's Spanish star, Sergio Garcia, who stabbed it home from two yards out to give them a 2-0 lead going into half time.
It didn't take Rayyan long to all but see of the tie in the second half thanks to a second from Tabata. Rayyan's captain picked up the ball near the halfway line on the 51st minute and ran at Wakrah's defence who were unable to stop him as he skipped past a number of challenges before producing a clever finish, chipping the ball over Wakrah's goalkeeper who committed himself early.
Just a little over ten minutes later Tabata completed his hat trick with a fine free kick from 20 yard out, making it 4-0 to Al Rayyan and putting the game well out of Wakrah's reach. The Blue Waves now look too far gone and certain for the drop while Al Rayyan look to have cemented their fourth place, opening up a ten point gap over fifth place Al Gharafa.
Source: QNA
GMT 19:41 2017 Thursday ,13 April
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QSL: Al Rayyan Beet Al Wakrah 4-0Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
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