Lekhwiya beat Muaither in Qatar Stars League

Sebastian Soria was twice on target as Lekhwiya thrashed minnows Muaither 5-1 in the Qatar Stars League yesterday. Karim Boudiaf, Nasser Khalfan and an own goal by Mohamed Medabo completed the tally for Lekhwiya, with Nasser Khalfan pulling one back for Muaither in the 88th minute. In other matches yesterday, Al Sailiya continued their brilliant run in the tournament beating Al Kharatiat 2-0 and Al Ahli scored a surprise 3-1 victory over Umm Salal. The victory helped Al Sailiya go top of the standings for the first time in their history with 11 points from five matches. Al Wakrah are also on 11 points but are placed second on goal difference. Muaither, newcomers to the Qatari top-flight, suffered their third loss in five matches last evening as Lekhwiya dominated them completely despite not being at their best. The two-time champions, who lost out on a hat-trick of QSL titles last season in a desperate race to the finish with eventual winners Al Sadd, scored as early as in the seventh minute through Karim Boudiaf whose crisp shot during a tense spell of action inside the penalty area left the Muaither goalkeeper Marwan Ahmed completely beaten. They fell further behind in the 16th minute when Medabo, under pressure from the Lekhwiya forwards, tried to make a desperate clearance and the ball settled into his own net. Soria then consolidated with a neat header off a Nam Tae-hee cross in the 40th minute to put Lekhwiya 3-0 ahead at half-time. Muaither, who were promoted to the QSL this season, could hardly put together a decent move and Lekhwiya took full advantage of that. However, Muaither added to their own misery for the second time in the match when Khaled Muftah was brought down in the penalty area in the 57th minute. Soria, who took the shot, easily beat goalkeeper Marwan for Lekhwiya’s fourth goal. Muaither scored their only goal of the match in the 88th minute when Ayman Adam found himself in perfect position to head the ball home from close after it had taken an odd bounce off a defender’s body. Lekhwiya, however, were not finished as substitute Khalfan volleyed a deflection off a corner to seal the match in the 90th minute. Later Al Wakrah conceded the top position to Al Sailiya when they could not hold on to their first-half lead against El Jaish and settled for a 1-1 draw. French pro Sebastian Saez put Al Wakrah ahead in the 37th minute after stabbing in a rebound off an earlier attempt, but Mohamed Muntari rescued a point for El Jaish with a header late in the second half. Today, Al Sadd will clash with Qatar Sports Club, Al Rayyan meet Al Gharafa and Al Arabi play Al Khor. Source: Qatar Olympic Committee