Qatar begins World Cup qualifier in Bahrain

On Friday, new Qatar coach Sebastiao Lazaroni's boys will take their first step dow the long and ardous path towards the 2014 World Cup, with an away fixture agaianst Bahrain. The match at the Bahrain's National Stadium in Riffa is scheduled to kick off at 8pm local time. Apart from Iran, ranked 53rd in the world, Qatar (88) is well ahead of Bahrain (101) and Indonesia (131) in its Asia qualification group (E). Only the winne

r and runner-up of the round robin group advance to the fourth round of the AFC qualifiers, which means that Qatar is left with little margin of error. After Friday's clash, Qatar will host Iran on September 6 in Doha. Their next qualifying game will then be in Jakarta against Indonesia on October 11. This round of Asian qualification qualification continues February next year. Qatar arrived in Bahrain on Wednesday reeling from back-to-back losses in friendly games in the past fortnight.They recorded losses against Iraq (1-0 at home) before falling to the United Arab Emirates 3-1 at Al Ain. Going into Friday’s game, coach Lazaroni seems optimistic, especially after the recovery of the injured players such as the team captain Bilal Mohammed, Majdi Siddiq and Hamid Ismael. As for Bahrain, they are coming off a 1-0 victory over Sudan in a friendly played at home last week. They had also recently beaten United Arab Emirates club side Bani Yas 3-0 after drawing 1-1 with Oman in an abandoned friendly during their July training camp in Dubai. Meanwhile, this Qatar-Bahrain match will mark the first official game for Qatar’s Brazilian tactician Sebastiao Lazaroni, who was appointed to his new post earlier this month. Same for the former England under-21 manager, now Bahrain head coach Peter John Taylor, who was signed to take over the national team duties in July. Bahrain is one of five nations (others being Japan, South Korea, Australia and North Korea) that received byes through to the third round. Friday’s clash may be the group opener but it looms as a potentially vital one. The other teams in Group E, Iran and Indonesia, are expected to finish top and bottom of the group respectively, leaving Bahrain and Qatar to fight out the second spot which yields a place in the fourth round. Qatar will be hoping to claim a much-needed victory as a boost to its credential as the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Lazaroni brings vast international experience to the Qatar job. He was coach of his native Brazil in the successful 1989 Copa America campaign and 1990 World Cup, and had coached the Jamaican national team. The 61-year-old had managed several of the big club in Brazil, including Flamengo, Vasco de Gama, Gremio and Botafogo, plus several club sides around the world including Fiorentina and Fenerbahce. If Qatar wins in this group, it will then move on to the fourth round, which will have two groups of five teams each that will see the group winners and runners-up automatically qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

Nigeria's Onyekach Okonkwo debuts for new club

Nigeria's Onyekachi Okonkwo made his league debut for top division Qatari club al Kharaitiyat, spotting jersey (10) and he played the entire ninety minutes.

SECOND-HALF goals from Sebastian Soria and Marcio Jose de Oliviera gave Qatar Sports Club a deserved victory 3-2 over Al Kharaitiyat and put them among table toppers of the Qatar Stars League, presented by Masraf Al Rayan, in the opening week.

Mercurial Soria earlier struck first in the 10th minute when he neatly finished a sublime, low cross with a powerful shot inside 18 yards.

Kharaitiyat, who rallied strongly after the reverse, was handed a chance to equalise in the 12th minute when Abdullah Alawi brought down Alaa Abdul Zahra.

The free-kick was from 25 yards but Yahia Kebe’s effort was saved by the goalkeeper to the delight of the home fans.

With 20 minutes into the game, Kebe could not be stopped from getting a goal.

Kharaitiyat equalised after a clever pass from left winger Abdulla al Battat freed its top striker Kebe who calmly slotted the ball home.

Nigerian international Tico Okonkwo, making his league debut for Kharaitiyat, had a good first-half with his ball distribution and dribbling abilities, which resulted in a free-kick from 25 yards after he was pulled down when racing his way into the danger area.

The resultant freekick was brilliantly converted by Kebe for his second goal of the match.

The pressure was apparently on Qatar Sports Club as its lost concentration might have seen it concede another goal in the 35th minute by Zahra.

He needed just a simple touch to increase the goal tally but as he chose to crash the ball into the net, the shot went too high.

Trailing 1-2 at the break, QSC decided to pull all stops in the second session.

Its slick play helped it to dominate the early exchanges.

Enterprising de Oliviera dribbled his way into Kharaitiyat box which created a goal-mouth scramble in which Soria struck the equaliser in the 55th minute.

The tight match took a toll on the nerves of QSC coach Sebastiao Lazaroni, who was challenging the decisions by referee Khamis al Kuwari frequently.

But in the 63rd minute, the referee finally gave marching orders to the coach when he showed resentment over the booking of Fadel Omar Said.

QSC was fired up after this and laid a siege on the Kharaitiyat’s goal.

In the 77th minute, Soria could have struck again but he slammed the ball wide.

But de Oliviera was not the one to spurn the chance when he got it after beating the off-side trap in the 81st minute.

He darted inside and put the ball over from a close range to give QSC the maximum points and claim the $1,500.