Players pay tribute to the former Al Gharafa head coach Caio Junior who died following the aeroplane disaster that took the lives of 77 people in Colombia, prior to their Qatar Stars League match at the Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday.
Al Gharafa consigned reigning Qatar Stars League (QSL) champions Al Rayyan to their first defeat of the season with a 3-2 victory on Saturday evening in a pulsating QSL game.
Pedro Caixina’s side secured the win with two minutes to spare thanks to a fine strike from Slovakian winger Vladimir Weiss, who grabbed a brace on the night.
Gharafa laid down a signal of intent early, Abdulaziz Hatem had a sharp shot after slipped though by Vladimir Weiss,the shot brought out a good save from Rayyan stopper Omar Barry in the fifth minute.
Spanish striker Sergio Garcia played a smart one two with Sebastian Soria, however the scuffed shot was dealt with by the Al Gharafa defence. Garcia was amongst the chances moments later again, rounding off a slick passing move drilling a hard shot towards the Gharafa goal, fortunately goalkeeper Yusef Hasan was equal to it. The champions capitalised on their possession on the eighteenth minute opening the scoring through Sergio Garcia.
A long ball from Daniel Goumou found Garcia who beat defender George Kwasi before unleashing a curling shot past Yusef Hasan for his third goal of the season.
Al Gharafa were awarded a penalty just a minute later. Rayyan defender Gonzalo Viera clumsily tripped Krisztián Németh in the box and the referee duly pointed to the penalty spot. Vladimir Weiss stepped and promptly smashed the ball into the net to level the score.
At half time, scores read 1-1.
After a intense opening half to the game, the second half took a while to spring into life.
The tie was slowly swinging in the favour of the QSL champions and Rayyan registered two quick-fire chances to take the lead. First of which was a blistering shot from Rodrigo Tabata, along with a towering header from Sebastian Sora.
Gharafa held on with solid saves from the ever reliable Yusef Hasan. With Al Rayyan pushing for a winner, Al Gharafa struck on the break to take a 2-1 lead.
Substitute Moayad Hasaan played the Rayyan offside trap to perfection and was left one on one with Omar Barry. The young winger kept his composure to lob the keeper, with the ball trickling into the back of the net.
Undeterred Al Rayyan hit back immediately through Sergio Garcia just a minute later. The Spanish attacker calmly beat Gharafa defender Rashid Sumaila before curling the ball into the bottom left hand corner for his and his sides second goal of the game.
With two minutes left for the final whistle, Al Gharafa struck a deserved winner through Vladimir Weiss. Gharafa broke forward on the right hand side, and defender Othman Al Yahri picked out the Slovakian international who swept the ball into the net much to the delight of his team mates.
