The third round of the QSL Cup for the 2024-25 season will begin tomorrow, Friday, with a match between Al Arabi and Al Shahaniya for Group A when they meet at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium.
Each team is looking forward to achieving victory in this match, especially in light of the closeness in points between them in order to compete for the advanced positions in the group, which is led by Al Rayyan and Al Duhail teams with 6 points each.
Al-Arabi occupies third place in the group with 3 points from a victory over Al-Ahly and a loss against Al-Rayyan.
As for Al Shahaniya, it is in fifth place in the group with one point from a draw with Qatar and a loss to Al Rayyan.
In a second match within the same group, Al Rayyan faces its counterpart Al Duhail at the Grand Hamad Stadium in a match of great importance for both teams to lead the group, as they both share the lead with 6 points from two victories, but Al Rayyan is ahead on goal difference.
Al Rayyan achieved victory in the first round at the expense of Al Shahania with a clean goal, then defeated Al Arabi in the second round by three clean goals.
While Al-Duhail won two goals to one over the Qatar team in the first round, then continued its victories and overcame Al-Ahly with two clean goals in the second round.
On the same day, Qatar and Al-Ahly will play at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, where each team is looking to change the situation in this round and win the three points in the first group competitions.
Qatar team occupies fourth place in the group with one point, after losing to Al-Duhail and tying with Al-Shahaniya.
On the other hand, Al-Ahly ranks sixth in the group without points, after losing to Al-Arabi and Al-Duhail in succession.
The third round matches will conclude tomorrow, Saturday, with Umm Salal, the defending champion, facing Al Gharafa at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium for the second group, which includes, alongside them, Al-Wakra, Al-Shamal and Al-Khor.
Umm Salal is in third place in Group Two with 3 points from a victory over Al Khor and a loss against Al Shamal.
On the other hand, Al-Gharafa suffered its first loss in the tournament with three unanswered goals against Al-Wakrah in the second round, and the team occupies fourth place with no points from one match.
Al-Khor will meet Al-Shamal at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium in the second group, as each team seeks to strengthen its hopes of competing in the group.
Al-Khor has not yet known victory and lost in the first two matches, to Al-Wakrah by a goal of five in the first round, then Umm Salal – the defending champion – by a goal of two in the second round.
While Al-Shamal is looking for its second victory after achieving victory over Umm Salal by two goals to one in the first round, as the team occupies second place in the standings with 3 points, knowing that it played only one match, while Al-Khor occupies the fifth and last place with no score.
The participating teams were divided into two groups, based on the final standings in the league championship for the last season 2023-2024. The first group included the clubs: “Al-Rayyan – Al-Arabi – Al-Duhail – Qatar – Al-Ahly – Al-Shahaniya”… As for the second group, it included the clubs: “ Al Gharafa – Al Wakra – Umm Salal – Al Shamal – Al Khor.
Note that Al Sadd apologized for not participating in the tournament.
It is worth noting that the Umm Salal team was crowned champion of the 12th edition of the tournament for the 2023-2024 season after defeating Al-Arabi on penalties 3-1 after they tied with four goals each in regular time of the final match.