Qatar Stars League 2012-2013: Matchday 5

Al Wakrah vs Qatar SC October 27, 2012 8:00 GMT +3 Soud bin Abdalrahman Stadium

Pre-Match
Al Wakrah
Al Wakrah had been in tremendous form coming into this game undefeated with three victories and one draw. This was mostly due to Younis Mahmoud and Pierre-Alain Fraus great scoring form which helping the climb into second in the league standings. However, Frau was left out of the starting lineup for this game. Al Wakrah played a 4-4-1-1 with Mahmoud playing behind the main striker Ali Rahma. Al Sadd were in first place winning all four games and Al Wakrah needed the full three points to keep up to pace.

Current Form
W W vs. Al Gharafa (2-0) W W vs. Al Sailiya (3-0) W W vs. Al Kharatiyat (1-0) D W vs. Lekhwiya (2-2)

Formation Qatar SC
Qatar SC havent had the best start to the season especially with a shocking 5-2 loss against Al Sadd and only one win. However, they have been able to get the scoresheet multiple times scoring at least once in every game. Bakari Kone has been their main source of inspiration in recent weeks. Qatar SC lined up in a 4-3-1-2 formation with Kone lining up between the two strikers. Qatar SC will need the best out of their strikers in order to get a result out of this game especially in order to get out of 8th place in the league.

Current Form
LW vs. Al Rayyan (1-2) L W vs. Al Sadd (2-5) D W vs. Al Khor (2-2) WW vs. Al Arabi (2-0)

Formation

1st Half
In the first half, both teams looked to be first on the scoresheet. However, Qatar SC held most of the possession and dominated most of the first hald. Qatar SC looked to attack from both wings using the left and right defenders. This would usually happen through a pass from the center from either Qusay Muneer or Youssef Saffari. The end result of these attacks from the wings would usually be a cross into the box or a pass back to the midfielders to hold possession. There was one counter attack for Razaq, however it was stopped on the edge of the penalty box through a foul by Ali Rehema. The resulting free kick ended in nothing.

From Al Wakrahs side, there were a few attacks. The main attempt at penetration was to send a ball to the up to the sides usually for Younis Mahmoud in order to hold up the ball and then try to bring the ball back to the center. This did not have much success for them. However, at the last 10 minutes of the first half Anour Diba hit the post twice with shots from outside the 18-yard box. Because he is clever player with plenty of tricks, the defenders probably do not want to close down on him right away. Twice he took advantage of this to nearly put his side in the lead. Also, Al Wakrah exhibited high pressure in game plenty of times to put pressure on Qatar SC three-man midfield.

2nd Half
In the 2nd half, the play was much more open with both sides making mistakes especially with Qatar SC changing their style of attack. Instead of going through the wings, the team tried to play through the middle. Al Wakra figured out Qatar SCs style of play and started to defend the right wing and limited the effect of Zakiba in the second half. The ball was lost