Al Shamal beat Muaither in Emir Cup opener

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Wednesday, April 11th 2018 01:41 AM

Doha: Al Shamal qualified for the main draw of the Emir Cup with a 2-0 win over fellow Second Division side Muaither at tSuhaim bin Hamad stadium yesterday.   The Emir Cup, the main draw of which will be held at a gala ceremony today, is the most prestigoius domestic football tournament and brings down the curtains on the nine-month long football season in Qatar.   The event offers a chance to lower division teams to test their mettle against the big guns in a bid to be prresent at Khalifa Stadium for the final on May 19.   Al Shamal were clearly the dominant side yesterday as they made their intentions clear right from the start and tested the Muaither defence at regular intervals.   But after going close on a number of occasions, Al Shamal were able to break through only in the 38th minute with Mohamed Hares scored with a powerful right-footed shot from just inside the penalty area. Muaither hardly made their presence felt in terms of goal-worthy moves and in a sense were fortunate to go down by just two goals.   The Shamal trio of Hares, Ali al-Shibani and Jose Nunez Montiel constantly threatened the Muaither defence with some clever thinking and crisp passing.   One such move produced the Al Shamal’s second goal when Paraguayan Montiel struck from close off an assist from al-Shibani in the 53rd minute.