Al Duhail and Al Sadd are gearing up for the 2020 Qatar Cup final which will be played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Friday.
The battle between the heavyweights is sure to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller given the form and performance of both teams in their semi-final victories.
Al Duhail defeated Al Sailiya 2-0, while Al Sadd defeated Al Rayyan 4-1 in the semi-finals of sixth edition of the Qatar Cup.
Al Duhail had beaten Al Sadd 2-1 in last edition’s final in 2018. Preparations are in full swing as both teams aim to be on top of their readiness for the game.
Sparks fly whenever the titans of Qatar club football face-off and it will be no different this time. They both are capable of beating each other. The two teams met in domestic competitions twice this season.
Al Sadd beat Al Duhail 1-0 in the one-off, season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup (Super Cup). Then, Al Duhail turned the tables as they beat Al Sadd 4-1 in Week 9 of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League.
Al Duhail have been doing really well in the league championship, where they are the table toppers after 12 rounds of action, whereas reigning champions Al Sadd are third even though they have one match in hand, against Al Khor, deferred owing to their AFC Champions League commitment.
But then, cup competition is a different ballgame altogether, as Al Sadd proved with their big-margin victory over Al Rayyan in the semi-final.
The fans of both teams in particular as well as those of Qatar football and Qatar Cup in general are in for a great treat, more because of the presence of star players on either side. Al Duhail feature the likes of Almoez Ali, Karim Boudiaf, Yousef Msakni, Assim Madibo, Mohamed Muntari, Mario Mandzukic and Ismail Mohamed, while Al Sadd have Akram Afif, Hassan al-Haydos, Baghdad Bounedjah, Nam Tae-hee, Salem al-Hajri, Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualem Khoukhi, Pedro Miguel and Saad al-Dossari in their ranks. Coaches Rui Faria of Al Duhail and Xavi Hernandez of Al Sadd will be chalking out strategies on how best to utilise their resources and guide their teams to glory in the title clash of Qatar Stars League’s flagship tournament, which Al Duhail won in 2015 as well as 2018 and Al Sadd won in 2017 after it was rebranded as Qatar Cup in 2014.
The final will start at 5.30pm. QSL.com
..
