Ooredoo Cup Semi-Final: Al-Gharafa and Al-Rayyan Face-off for a Final Ticket

Doha, March 18 (QNA) - Al-Gharafa and Al-Rayyan teams will play at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Al Sadd Club on Sunday, in the Semi-final of Ooredoo Cup for the current season. The confrontation represents a strong football show down between two big teams with strong ambitions in order to reach the final match, and then strive to compete for the victory of the cup, as well as the positive impact of reaching the final match on both teams in the competitions and entitlements of the current football season. Al-Gharafa played in Group Two in the group stage, and qualified first with 13 points from 5 matches, before winning over Al-Sadd, the league champion, in the quarter-finals (4-2). As for Al Rayyan, they also played in Group Two in the group stage, and finished third with 7 points, and in the quarter-final round, they beat Al Khor (1-0). Despite this, Al Gharafa's level witnessed a decline in the league, which made it lose its position so far in the top four, and the team now ranks fifth with 30 points, after losing in the twenty-first round against Al-Wakrah (2-0) in the match that was rescheduled due to Al-Gharafa's association with the Uzbek AJMK match on April 7, in the preliminary round qualifiers for the group stage of the 2021 AFC Champions League. Al-Rayyan's position appears to be better than his opponent by virtue of his recent results, including his victory in the 19th round at the expense of Al-Arabi (2-0), and his presence in third place with 34 points. The two teams will play the match without their international players present with the national teams, and they will also be deprived of a number of their foreign professional players, but this does not mean that the impact will be great on them, as well as the opportunity that can be in the interest of substitute players and young talents looking for the opportunity to prove themselves. In the official matches. The tactical handling of the match will be at a high level between the coaches of the two teams, Slavisa Yukanovic, coach of Al-Gharafa, and Laurent Blanc, Al-Rayyan coach, two of the coaches who are good at dealing with the tools and elements they have. (QNA)