Major transformations occurred in the Doha Bank Stars League after the results of the eighth round, from top to bottom, through to the golden square
Perhaps the most notable of these transformations were the changes that occurred at the forefront for the first time, which witnessed an escalation of clashes, and witnessed the North moving away from the summit and the lead.
Al-King deservedly and deservedly resolved the clash for the lead and took it alone for the first time, despite its difficult match with Umm Salal and having to rely on 10 players for 76 minutes after its player Sayyar was sent off in the 14th minute. Qatar snatched a well-deserved victory against Umm Salal, and at the same time benefited from the first loss of its rival Al-Shamal, which left the lead for the first time and fell to third place after its defeat against Al-Duhail.
Al-Gharafa almost rose to the top with its victory over Al-Ahly. In fact, it remained there for 24 hours before the king snatched it away with strength, ability and merit. Al Rayyan returned to victories after a pause and achieved a valuable victory over its strong competitor, Al Wakrah, with two goals, breaking into the semi-finals and beginning the upward journey. Al-Duhail, in turn, regained victories and achieved an important victory over Al-Shamal, advancing an important step from sixth to fifth, and in turn began the journey of progress towards the summit.
Despite the new loss to Al Sadd, the defending champion, they remained seventh with 8 points, which in any case is a position not worthy of their capabilities and ambitions.
The biggest transformation and change occurred in the middle and last positions. Al-Arabi, which was in eleventh and penultimate place, became eighth with its precious victory over Al-Sadd and its score rising to 7 points.
Al Sailiya, which was last and twelfth, advanced 3 places at once and advanced to ninth place after its second victory over Al Shahaniya and its score increased to 6 points.
Umm Salal, which was eighth, became tenth after losing to Qatar, and its score stopped at 6 points. Al-Ahly also dropped to eleventh place with 6 points, and Al-Shahania to twelfth and last place with 4 points.
Geddes continues to lead
Roger Guedes (Al Rayyan) maintained his top scorer in the league after scoring a goal against Al Wakrah and raising his tally to 7 goals.
In second place are Joao Bedor (Qatar), with 6 goals, and third place is Osama Tannan (Umm Salal), Radwan Barkan (Al-Wakrah), and Piatek (Al-Duhail), each with 5 goals.
In fourth place is Amin Zahzouh (Al-Wakrah), with 4 goals, and in third place are Akram Afif (Al-Sadd), Baghdad Bou Najah, Mohamed Manai (Al-Shamal), Amersfoort (Al-Shahaniya), Luis Alberto (Al-Duhail), Flaab (Al-Ahly), Yassin Brahimi (Al-Gharafa), and Olunga (Al-Arabi) with 3 goals.
16 goals
The decline in goals continued in the eighth round, which witnessed 16 goals scored compared to 19 goals last round.
The fourth round was considered the highest scoring round so far, as the teams scored 24 goals. The eighth round scored 16 goals, and the scoring percentage reached 2.6 goals per match.
Most of the goals were scored in the match between Al Arabi and Al Sadd, Al Gharafa with Al Ahly (3-1), Qatar with Umm Salal (2-1), Al Rayyan with Al Wakrah, Al Duhail with Al Shamal (2-0), and Al Sailiya with Al Shahaniya (1-0). The number of goals so far, in 42 matches, has reached 132 goals, with a ratio of 3.1 goals in each match.
Red card
Red cards continued to appear in the eighth round and appeared twice, and they went to Paolo Otavio, the Al-Sadd player, against Al-Arabi, and Ahmed Sayyar, the Qatar player, against Umm Salal, bringing the number to only 8 red cards so far.
3 penalty kicks
The referees awarded 3 penalty kicks in this round, with the smallest penalty compared to the last round, which witnessed 4 kicks. The first kick was awarded by Draxler for Al-Ahly in Al-Gharafa, Qatar scored by Joao Pedro in Umm Salal, and Benjamin missed for Al-Duhail against Al-Shamal. The number has so far risen to 25 penalty kicks in the six rounds, all of which were scored and 5 were missed.
Round stars
Al-Arabi’s new coach, Roman Cosmin, deserves to be the best in this round, not only for his leadership of his team to a deserved victory over defending champion Al-Sadd 3-1, but also for the major transformation in performance and level that was different from everything the Dream Team has presented since the start of the league until now.
Al-Arabi player Rodrigo Sanchez also deserves to be the star of the round, after he presented an entertaining performance, assisted his team’s goals, and also scored the third goal.