DOHA: Al Wakrah fought back to overcome last season’s runners-up Al Duhail 4-2 in a thrilling first round 2022-2023 Qatar Stars League match at the Education City Stadium on Wednesday.
The match was tied 1-1 at half-time.
While the goals for Al Duhail came from Murad Naji (own goal 15th minute) and Michael Olunga (50th minute), Al Wakrah scored through Trent Sainsbury (45th minute), Jacinto Dala (54th and 90th minutes) and Omid Ebrahimi (68th-minute penalty).
Having suffered an early setback, when Murad Naji while trying to cut off an Al Duhail cross erred and put the ball into his own goal, Al Wakrah rallied superbly to counter charged-up Red Knights.
Just before half-time, Al Wakrah’s latest acquisition Australian Trent Sainsbury (who has played for a number of clubs in Australia, Holland, Italy, China and Belgium) showed his class by making a beautiful header being left unmarked. Sainsbury was fed with the perfect ball from a corner kick by Murad, making amends for his earlier mistake.
The match went into an overdrive straight up in the second half, with Al Duhail’s Kenyan striker Michael Olunga scoring with a header after being provided with a superb long left-foot pass by Belgian winger Edmilson Junior from outside the box, making it 2-1. (QSL)
