Al Shahania and Al Arabi played out a goalless draw in in Week 1 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium of Al Sadd club on Sunday, August 11, 2024, with Al Arabi missing plenty of chances, including a 62nd minute penalty.
Al Shahania, who made a return to the Ooredoo Stars League after winning the play-off last season against Al Markhiya, were determined to make a statement of intent right from the blast of the whistle as they got the first chance of the entertaining match in the second minute, with Lotfi Madjer and Alhassan Koroma all making an attempt at goal from the rebounds of Petrus Amersfoort’s earlier strike, but Al Arabi’s defence was able to stave off the assault.
Al Arabi began to grow into the game with time, but for all their efforts and incursions inside the 18-yard box of the host team, they were unable to break down their defence as the first half ended with no goals on either side.
The second half began where the first ended, with the two teams going t
oe-to-toe with each other but without the desired result.
Al Shahania goalkeeper Bautista Burke was called into action in the 53rd minute by Qatari international Jassem Jaber, who fired a thunderbolt of a shot from 20 yards, but the sharp reflexes of the 21-year-old Argentinian proved decisive as he parried the ball for a corner kick.
Six minutes later, Hassan Alaaldeen missed a golden opportunity to put Al Arabi in front after missing an obvious sitter, with the ball somehow going between his legs from a shooting position after Abdulla Al Marafi had perfectly squared the ball to the left winger, to the disappointment of both the bench and fans of the club.
When it rains, it definitely pours, as Al Arabi wasted another opportunity in the 62nd minute, this time from the spot, with Yousef Msakni’s penalty getting saved after Al Shahania’s Mohammed Sayyar was adjudged to have brought down Ahmed Fathi in an attempt to defend a poor pass by goalkeeper Burke inside the 18-yard box.
Al Shahania’s Amersfoort was
denied what could have probably been a goal-of-the-week contender in the 76th minute, with Al Arabi’s goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail having a one-hand save of his 25-yard box thunderbolt of a shot.
With nothing much to separate the two sides, the game ended with the spoils shared and no goals scored.
Source: Qatar News Agency