Al Sadd blank Al Khor to enter Emir Cup semifinals

Doha: Al Sadd started slowly, but bounced back from the disappointment of their Qatar Cup final defeat to Al Duhail SC which ended in controversial circumstances with a 4-0 victory against Al Khor on Thursday.

Ali Fereydoun, Pedro Miguel, Yasir Abubacar and Akram Afif scored for Sadd who moved into the semifinals where they take on Duhail again after Djamel Belmadi's side defeated Umm Salal thanks to Almoez Ali's well-taken goal in the 54th minute.

Earlier, Sadd were off to a sedate start and had to wait until the 14th minute for their first shot on target.

And even though Hassan Al Haidous' freekick from just outside the area packed enough power it came at a comfortable height for Khalifa Ababacar, who kept it out at the expense of a corner.

The danger was not completely evaded as Morteza Mohammed's acrobatic overhead kick off a cross from Al Haidous missed the target only narrowly.

With Xavi Hernandez, their chief orchestrator, and Baghdad Bounedjah, their main attacking outlet, out with suspensions, Sadd opted to test Khor with crosses into the box instead of their slick passing game and it was no surprise that they took the lead off a set-piece.

Their tall striker Ali Fereydoun had headed Musab Kamal's cross wide moments ago, but he made no mistake in the 37th minute, slotting home the rebound after Boualem Khoukhi had drawn a fine point-blank save from Ababacar off an Al Haydous freekick.

Sadd opened up a two-goal lead right at the start of the second half as Pedro Miguel, playing in midfield, surged through the middle, picked Yasir Abubakar on the right and buried his cross with an emphatic header in the 53rd minute.

The goal added more fluency into the defending champions' attack as left back Abdulkarim Hassan started to pop in attacking positions more frequently and link up with Akram Afif.

The Qatar forward had a hand in the next goal which came off a counterattack.

Afif released Fereydoun, whose attempted lob hit the bar and bounced back into play. But Abubakar controlled it and beat Ababacar with a controlled chip shot in the 67th.

Sadd seemed to have taken their foot off the pedal allowing Khor to test Sadd keeper Saad Abdulla on a couple of occasions.

First, Khalid Radwan directed a bullet header off a Soroush Hossein corner goalwards which Saad did brilliantly to keep away and moments later he again showed his sharp reflexes to palm away a Hamad Mansour shot.

But It was Sadd who scored again as Afif finished off the game in style scoring a beautiful individual goal in the 90th minute.