By Sports Reporter/Doha


Key defender Mohammed Kasola is back with his teammates as Al Sadd football first team trained on Wednesday evening after receiving a day off following their 2-4 defeat to El Jaish in Round 13 of the Qatar Stars League (QSL).
The team is now preparing for the match against Mesaimeer in Round 14 of the QSL, which will take place on Sunday, the 20th of December at the Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Ahli Club.
The session on Wednesday saw the absence of five players (Muhannad Naim, Abdulkarim Hassan, Saleh Bader, Ali Asad and Musab Khodr) who are away with the Qatar Olympic team as it holds its final preparations for the U23 Asian Cup set to take place in Qatar in January.
Kasola, who trained on Wednesday, has recovered from an illness which kept him away from the last QSL match against El Jaish on Monday. The coaching staff used the session to focus on technical training alongside a physical conditioning programme, club officials said. The reserve team players had light training after playing the QatarGas League game against Al Sailiya on Tuesday at Al Wakrah Club. Al Sadd are behind Al Rayyan, El Jaish and Lekhwiya in the QSL points race.

Lekhwiya have edge over Al Gharafa in head-to-head
The confrontations between Lekhwiya and Al Gharafa commenced from the very first season when Lekhwiya qualified for the QSL in 2010/2011.
Since the time of Lekhwiya’s debut, Al Gharafa achieved only one victory, which was the first direct encounter between both sides in the first leg of the 2010/2011. Al Gharafa won by two goals from Younis Mahmoud and Clemerson.
Lekhwiya won the second leg fixture by one goal which was scored by Karim Boudiaf. Lekhwiya continued their winning that season by clinching the first leg by two goals and goalless tie in the second leg. Next season, both teams by one goal each, while Lekhwiya won the second leg fixture by two goals to one. In the 2013/2014 season, Lekhwiya defeated Al Gharafa  both home and away 3-0 and 1-0.
Lekhwiya continued in the same vein winning the first leg in 2014 season 3-2 while both side drew in the second leg (1-1). Their clash during the on-going QSL season ended in a 1-1 draw.

Little to choose between Al Rayyan and Al Sailiya
The recent five seasons of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) haven’t witnessed a lot of games between Al Rayyan and Al Sailiya. But the two sides have shared the spoils in six head-to-head clashes.
Both the teams have met on only six occasions due to the relegation of Al Sailiya in the 2011/2012 season and the demotion of Al Rayyan in the 2014/2015 season in addition to the first leg match of this season which ended in favour of Al Rayyan by four goals.In the first leg of the 2010/2011 season, Al Rayyan won 2-1 with goals from Jarallah al-Marri and Amara Diane while Ali Mejbil scored for Al Sailiya.
In the second leg of the same season, Al Rayyan won the match by four goals to one scored by Jarallah al-Marri, Nymar, Fahad Khalfan and Tabata, while Dagano scored for Al Sailiya.Both teams didn’t meet in the 2011/2012 season due to the relegation of Al Sailiya to the Second Division League.In the first leg of the 2012/2013 seaosn, Al Sailiyah won 4-1 while Al Rayyan hit back in the second leg with a huge victory 7-3 which witnessed the superiority of Al Rayyan Brazilian striker Nelmar who scored a hat-trick while Tabata scored twice.