Mombasa born Ali books possible final against Olunga

Mombasa born Hashim Ali came on in the final minutes of Al Sadd’s 3-0 thumping of Al Arabi to storm into the final of the Qatar Emir Cup on Sunday 9 May.

The midfielder was given the nod in the 83rd minute, replacing South Korean international Nam Tae-Hee as Al Sadd aimed to sail into the finals without any hitches. 

Ali will have a chance to rub shoulders with Michael Olunga in the final of the cup with Al Duhail playing the second semi-final against Al Rayyan on Monday.

The 20-year-old was born and raised in Mombasa before relocating to Qatar to join his parents. He joined the Al Sadd senior team in 2019 from Al Arabi but was part of the Al Sadd Academy through his formative years.

Nam Tae-Hee opened the scoring for Al Sadd with a deft header into the far corner after Youssef Abdel Razaq Youssef whipped in a curling cross into the box after 10 minutes.

Algerian international Baghdad Bounedjah doubled Al Sadd’s lead in the 56th minute after making a smart half turn to bang the ball home.

Former Arsenal and Villareal midfielder Santi Carzola got his name on the scoresheet 10 minutes from time, converting a spot-kick after Bounedjah was brought down by the keeper.

Ali will be hoping to add his fourth trophy of the season having already won the Prince Cup and the Qatar Cup and the league.

Richard Odada

Elsewhere in Serbia Kenyan international Richard Odada missed Red Star’s 6-1 whitewash over Zlatibor Čajetina.

Odada is preparing documents to change his citizenship to Serbian in order to improve his chances of playing at Red Star due to the limited foreign quota.

Mirko Ivanić’s brace, Veljko Nikolić, Željko Gavrić, Guelor Kanga and Milan Pavkov helped Red Star to the emphatic win while Stephan Vukić grabbed the consolation for Čajetina.