Al Wakrah striker Jorge Sebastian Saez (centre) flanked by Al Sadd’s Mohamed Kasoula (left) and Musab Keder Kamal during the match yesterday. Picture: Noushad Thekkayil

By Sports Reporter/Doha

The Qatar Stars League resumed after a long break yesterday – and once again the players were greeted by near-empty stadiums.
While fan apathy is not uncommon in Qatar, it was surprising that despite the 45-day break brought on by the country participation in the Asian Cup, very few supporters showed any eagerness to see their favourite players in action.
Even Al Sadd, the country’s most successful football club, had to make do with only about 500 fans as they played out a 2-2 draw with Al Wakrah.
That gave them a slender one-point lead at the top of the standings, but that would be short-lived if Lekhwiya beat Gharafa today at the Thani bin Jassim Stadium.
It was Al Sadd’s fourth draw in 16 matches, but they would be still thankful for a point as Al Wakrah gave them a run for the money and with a bit of luck could have emerged worthy winners.
It was Al Sadd, however, who forged ahead with Khalfan Ibrahim scoring from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd minute off a neat pass from the left by Abdulkarim Hassan.
But the former Asian Champions League winners saw the advantage vanish just eight minutes later when Hamood Yazidi’s brilliant free kick from 25 yards out dipped over the defence and beat Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb all ends up.
Al Sadd were hard pressed to keep Al Wakrah – languishing in 11th position – at bay. Time and again Al Wakrah pushed forward but poor finishing let them down.
Al Sadd, however, went ahead for the second time in the match in the 64th minute, Ali Asadallah making most of some poor defending following a corner kick and slotting the ball neatly home from close.
But the Wolves to defend their lead again with some sloppy midfield play as Ahmed Fadel intercepted the ball and quickly went on a counterattack. Mouchine Moutouali was further up the field and received the ball with two defenders to beat. The Moroccan, however, made it look easy as he curled the ball through the gap between the two defenders and past the stranded keeper and into the top right corner of the net in the 78th minute.
Moutouali and Sabastian Saez thereafter found their efforts go in vain as the minutes ticked by with Al Sadd heaving a sigh of relief when the final whistle was blown.
Meanwhile, Lekhwiya coach Michael Laudrup was ruing the less than ideal conditions ahead of his team’s first match in seven weeks.
“The last game was seven weeks ago. It has been a long time. It has not been an ideal break. We have had a lot of players away on international duty, complained the Dane at his pre-match press conference.
“In fact today (Thursday) will be the first time in seven weeks that we will have the entire team in training. And tomorrow we will play our first match. Not an excuse but just how the situation is.”
Laudrup added that Qatar losing all their three games in the Asian Cup to crash out in the group stagte itself was a gig disappointment for the country as well as for several members of his team, who were part of the national squad.
 “Physically the national players are okay except for a few niggles. But most of all, they are mentally quite down. After the Gulf Cup victory, then losing all three games in the Asian Cup, is a big blow mentally.”
Gharafa coach Marcos Paquetá has no illusions about his team’s match against Lekhwiya.
“The game on Friday will be a difficult one, said the Brazilian. “But we are looking to play at a high level with a lot of motivation.
“We played against Lekhwiya in the Qatar Gas League and it was a good game. I hope we can reproduce that form in the QSL too.
“The most important game is always the next one. We don’t want to think about where we finish in the league right now. Obviously every game will affect where we finish.”