Al Shamal ended a five-match winless run in Qatar’s league by beating Al Sailiya 5–0 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Saturday, 7 November. Qatar News Agency’s report records 12 points for Shamal and provisional fifth place during round nine.
Five different players scored. Wesley Saïd opened the scoring in the 20th minute and Riyad Mahrez converted a penalty in the 40th to establish a two-goal half-time lead. Tiago Silva added the third after 47 minutes, with Mowaffaq Awad and Baghdad Bounedjah completing the scoring by the 65th minute.
The early second-half goal widened the gap to three only two minutes after play resumed. Once Shamal had scored their fifth, the result remained unchanged to the final whistle. They therefore combined maximum points with a clean sheet, without leaving a narrow margin for Sailiya to challenge during the closing stages.
The league’s official Shamal record provides immediate background to the recovery: their previous two league matches ended in defeats, 3–2 against Qatar SC and 4–1 against Al Sadd. The five-goal victory consequently stopped consecutive losses as well as the longer winless sequence.
Sailiya remained on one point from a draw and eight defeats in nine matches, according to QNA. That record explains their difficult position without declaring relegation before the season ends. Shamal next meet Al Ahli after the international break, while the completed round’s positions depend on its remaining fixtures.
Archival cover photograph: Riyad Mahrez with Algeria against Armenia in May 2014; not from the current event. Photographer/creator: Clément Bucco-Lechat. Image source and metadata; CC BY-SA 3.0. Image date as recorded by the source: 2014-05-31 18:35:17. Wikimedia-supplied file used without raster edits.
