Alkass Digital
Al Gharafa defeated Muaither 2-0 in Week 17 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Ahli club on Monday.
Lyanco Vojnovic (63rd minute) and Yacine Brahimi (74th minute) scored for Al Gharafa in the thrilling encounter.
The win moved Al Gharafa’s points tally to 34, while Muaither, who drew 1-1 with Al Ahli in Week 16, remained on 11 points.
Title contenders Al Gharafa were expectedly much in control of the game right from the opening whistle, but they were quite unlucky with converting their several opportunities into goals early enough, with their Algerian star Brahimi and Ferjani Sassi guilty of wasting a couple of chances.
Despite sustained pressure for most part of the first half, The Cheetahs were unable to penetrate the defensive backline of Muaither, who were resolute in staving off the waves of attacks from their opponents.
Just as the match was approaching the half-time break, the tide started to turn in favour of Muaither, who began to launch a series of attacks of their own and they could have gone one up in two minutes of added time had Tiago Leonco been more clinical.
A highly-entertaining first half ended with a clean sheet on both sides.
Nothing much changed in the scheme of things in the second half as Al Gharafa began where they ended with most of the attacks coming from their half of the field, while Muaither were forced to defend for very much of the time.
Brahimi missed arguably Al Gharafa’s best chance so far in the 55th minute when he blasted wide a sitter when perfectly set up with a sublime cross by Amro Seraj, much to the disappointment of the bench and stands.
What would have been an otherwise frustrated night for Al Gharafa eventually turned into something to rejoice about as Vojnovic gave them the lead in the 64th minute through a powerful header from a corner kick perfectly taken by Brahimi.
Not relenting on their oars and in a bid to further strengthen their attack, Al Gharafa brought in Dame Traore to replace Farid Boulaya in the 74th minute. The substitution had an instant impact on the match as they doubled their lead a minute later, with Brahimi fending off two of Muaither’s defenders before lobbing the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues into an empty net after an across-the-half pass by Khalifa Ababacar.
With two goals up, the pressure seemed lifted from Al Gharafa’s shoulders as the team began to cool down the tempo of the game while drawing Muaither into their own half with a view of hitting back with a counter.
The situation remained the same till the end of the match as Al Gharafa ran away with the much-needed maximum points and a clean sheet.