14 Tuesday, Janauary 12, 2021 Sports

Bayern and Bayer Battle of the big guns as seek Cup wins after Bundesliga setbacks Al meet DPA Munich midfielder Leon Berlin Goretzka said. “We must somehow play SC take Title holders Bayern Mu- like in the first half hour and nich and runners-up Bayer see that we get back on track on Leverkusen complete the Wednesday.” Kiel, who are second round of the German third in the second tier, have Cup in mid-week, aiming to nothing to lose, with coach Ole Tribune News Network bounce back from recent dis- Werner saying: “We will take a appointments. look at what Bayern will do. Bayern visit second- Then we will think about Defending champions Al division Hostein Kiel on what we will do. And then we Duhail will look to close the Wednesday coming off a 3-2 will see what comes out of gap on leaders Al Sadd when Bundesliga defeat at Borussia it.” The winner will play an- the two giants of Qatar foot- Moenchengladbach in which other second-division team in ball face-off in the QNB Stars they wasted a two-goal lead. Darmstadt in the third round League at the Jassim Bin Leverkusen meet Eintra- while Leverkusen or Frankfurt Hamad Stadium on Tuesday. cht Frankfurt for the second would then face the only fourth All Sadd have been domi- time in 10 days on Tuesday tier team left in the competi- nant this season, having re- and want to avoid another set- tion, Rot-Weiss Essen. mained unbeaten in 13 match- back after going winless in the Leverkusen ruled the es to open an eight-point lead last three Bundesliga matches Bundesliga until the weekend at the top with 35 points. and slipping four points be- before Christmas when they Holders Duhail had an incon- hind leaders Bayern. suffered a late defeat against sistent start to their campaign Both matches were origi- Munich and lost the league before settling in under Sabri nally scheduled for December lead, followed by defeat in Lamouchi, who returned to but Bayern and Bayer success- Frankfurt and a draw with the helm of the Red Knights fully sought postponements to Werder Bremen. three month ago, and are in ease their heavy schedule at Like Munich, Leverkusen second place with 27 points. Al Rayyan Yacine Brahimi (left) and Qatar Sport Club’s Youcef Belaili will provide for a fascinating content when their teams meet on Monday. the time a little bit. appear fatigued and coach With Al Sadd in a race of The matches now however Peter Bosz rested his 17-year- their own, the time is running add to the January load and old super talent Florian Wirtz out for Duhail to keep their QNB Stars League Standings while still top of the league, against Bremen. The player chances of retaining the title. Club MP W l D GF GA GD Pts Bayern appear to be not as will be once again spared, not Both the teams were in dev- Al Sadd 13 11 0 2 50 9 41 35 fresh as in the past. playing against Frankfurt who astating form last week, with Al Duhail 13 9 4 0 35 17 18 27 The Christmas break ap- have won their first games in Al Sadd outclassing Al Sail- Qatar SC 13 7 4 2 23 13 10 23 peared not long enough to ful- the restart. iya 8-0, before Al Duhail re- Al Gharafa 13 7 4 2 28 20 8 23 ly recharge the batteries, and Despite not being injured, sponded with an 8-1 win over several mistakes cost them at Wirtz felt a strain before the Al Ahli 13 7 5 1 19 23 -4 22 Al Wakrah. Gladbach after they had start- Bremen game. With Sabri Lamouchi’s Al Rayyan 13 5 4 4 14 12 2 19 ed brightly with a 2-0 lead. “Florian will again be rest- men gradually gaining the Al Arabi 13 5 5 3 17 20 -3 18 “We are conceding too ed,” coach Peter Bosz said on lost ground, it will be a case Al Sailiya 13 4 6 3 15 27 -12 15 many goals at the moment,” Monday. of who blinks first in the Umm Salal 13 3 6 4 8 16 -8 13 marquee clash today. “Our Al Wakrah 13 4 8 1 13 24 -11 13 match against Al Sadd prob- Al Duhail coach Sabri Lamouchi. Al Khor 13 1 8 4 8 25 -17 7 Al Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez. ably comes at the most crucial Al Kharaitiyat 13 2 11 0 9 33 -24 6 stage. But Al Duhail are fully is very high. So this confron- having scored back to win- prepared for the match,” Lam- tation is a final for us. We are ning ways following two ouchi said yesterday. playing at our home and going drawn encounters. Younes “I have great confidence in through a very good period, Ali-coached side have had an the players’ ability to provide and Al Duhail are also in a incredible run so far, in which the best performance on the good period, so I think that they have held Al Sadd 1-1. field. The match will not be everyone can watch a good Qatar SC have 23 points, the easy for us against an attack- game and see a great perfor- same as Al Gharafa, but the ing team like Al Sadd who play mance from both teams,” the former are placed third on with a distinctive line of at- Spanaird said. better goal difference. tack. Losing against them can “We are now in the best Al Rayyan, now under fa- cause us to lose ground on the position in the past years, we mous French coach Laurent points table, but we will play are at the top of the table by Blanc, will be eager to continue with enthusiasm and see what eight points ahead of Al Du- their winning ways and break happens,” he added. hail, and that means a lot to into the top four. Al Sadd have had the bet- us, and now we need to get Meanwhile, Al Sailiya ter of Al Duhail in recent three points in this match. Al take on bottom-placed Al times. The Wolves won 3-1 Duhail are a team that has the Kharaitiyat at the Al Ahli Sta- in the league three months, mentality of winning all the dium. Al Sailiya are placed before thrashing their bitter championships like Al Sadd, eighth with 15 points, and are rivals 4-1 in the semi-finals of and this means that the match Xavi was unsure whether not know if they are ready or in need of morale-boosting the 2020 Amir Cup. Al Sadd will be very difficult like Akram Afif and Boualam not,” he said. after being thrashed by Al coach Xavi Hernandez ad- the last matches we played Khoukhi, who have recov- Sadd in the last round. mitted to the importance of against them and it was really ered from coronavirus, will QSC take on Al Rayyan Al Kharaitiyat, now un- today’s clash, calling it a final. difficult but Al Sadd were the be available for today’s In another match of the der former Qatar interna- “We have the opportunity best, and we have to continue match. “We will assess their day, third-placed Qatar Sports tional midfielder Wesam Rizik to increase the difference and this way, and we are mentally condition, as they were in Club will take on Al Rayyan, who recently replaced Yousef Bayern Munich’s Polish forward Robert Lewandowski celebrates if we win this competition, prepared to compete as al- isolation for nearly two who are sixth. Adam, remain as the basement scoring a goal during the German first division Bundesliga match the probability of winning it ways,” he added, weeks and therefore we do Qatar SC are on a high, side with only six points. against Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday. (AFP) Qatar mountain bike season makes boisterous start

Tribune News Network how it was used to be. Duhail Doha trail became stale of moun- tain bike events at some point The mountain biking commu- in time. The present version nity of Qatar enjoyed an amaz- might not resemble the Duhail ing start to the 2021 when the Trail of the past, but kudos to first cycling race of the year Camp Banayad boys for jam- took the form of a mountain packing the shrunken version bike mini endurance race at of the trail with lots of features the weekend at the crowd’s fa- transforming the old boring vorite Duhail MTB Trail. long trail into a fun and ac- The event was the 2nd race tion-packed race circuit. of the QCF-UFMBQ moun- With Qatar hosting the tain bike race series for season Asian Games 2030, the or- 20/21, organised by the Unit- ganisers are wishing that this ed Filipino Mountain Bikers route becomes a permanent Qatar (UFMBQ) in collabora- XCO-MTB trail in the future. tion with the Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF). Over the years, UFMBQ has stepped up the level of Winners in various categories organising grassroots level Men’s Open U40: Abdullah Aljaaidi (QAT) Team Doha Cycling Shop MTB racing events, making Men’s Open Masters: Frederick Feliciano (PHI) Team Rasen their races sought-after by Adventure Shop Women’s Open: Pia Sundstedt (FIN) Team Rasen Adventure Shop the local mountain biking Men’s U23: Aditya Prasetyo (INA) Team NeverWasted Shop communities. Men’s U40: Jeffrey Ramos (PHI) Team SMCC APO Lakay The event held last Friday Men’s Masters: Doug Marvin (RSA) Team Granny Ringers was another sold-out like the Veterans: Jaco Anderson (RSA) Team Rasen Adventure Shop Al Khor race which was held a is still enough for this event The event was the 2nd race of egory was another foreground Women’s Warrior: Editha Mundala (PHI) Team Bike to work Qatar few weeks ago. to earn its right to be named that has garnered a warm Megaman (BMI 30+): Mark Anthony Doneza (PHI) Team Takbong Titled as the “90 Minutes ‘DuHell’ race. the QCF-UFMBQ mountain bike comeback, giving the oppor- Chubby Doha of DuHELL”, this aggressive The event beats the record race series for season 20/21, tunity to heavyweight riders to Men’s Novice: Herb Albert Curaza (PHI) Team Bike to work Qatar organised by the United Filipino Women’s Novice: Sarah Vargas (PHI) Team Doha ChiQlistas cross country mountain bike for a grassroots level MTB compete with each other. Youth U14: Jared Benedict Navera (PHI) Team UFMBQ Juniors race attracted a lot of riders race organised by UFMBQ. It Mountain Bikers Qatar (UFMBQ) Duhail trail, with its close Kids 1 (3 to 6): Teddy Marvin (RSA) Team Granny Ringers spread around 15 different highlighted the highest num- in collaboration with the Qatar proximity to the city of Doha, Kids 2 (7 to 8): Adam Khatib (GBR) categories that made the race ber of children racing, the Cycling Federation (QCF). is still one of the crowd’s fa- Kids 3 (9 to 11): Isla Melville (GBR) TriClub Doha. a wide competition. The 1.5- highest numbers of female vorite trails. This is where hour race duration might not participants, and the highest mountain bike racing started a be that hellish as the tradi- numbers of beginners. And the deadlines. It proves that decade ago. The recent devel- tional “3H of DuHell”, but the for 2 consecutive events, the mountain biking in Qatar is opments and constructions in current 5 km race route is so organisers experienced sold- still gaining popularity. The re- the area had led to the shrink- aggressively unforgiving that out registrations days before sumption of the Megaman cat- ing of the trail compared to