It was a jocund evening, fanfare & goodbyes all around as the 1st arena to be constructed from scratch for the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be held in 2022, the Al Janoub Stadium, and it was inaugurated in the capital city Doha on last Thursday on the eve of the final of Amir Cup. Al Sadd, who was crowned the champion of Qatar Stars League, took on the Al Duhail in a kick-off which took place in the late evening and that was graced up by some of the apex dignitaries like Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani (the Amir of Qatar), Gianni Infantino (the president of FIFA) and also a host of some of the prominent footballers such as Samuel Eto’o, Cafu, and Roberto Carlos.
Xavi, who also attracted some of the raucous cheers from the fans whenever he got his foot on the ball, depicted glimpses of his excellent passing game in making the 1st goal possible, but he failed to inspire his team to the winning ways as the Al Sadd was effortlessly reduced to 8 men only in the 2nd half and as a result it went down to a defeat to Al Duhail by a poor scoreline of 4-1.