Rashid Sumaila's dream of winning a second successive Amir Cup was shattered on Wednesday evening as Al Gharafa suffered a 2-1 defeat to Al Rayyan in the semi finals at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Al Gharafa were reduced to 10 men inside the 20th minute when Ghanaian-born defender George Kwasi was shown a straight red card after he elbowed veteran Spanish forward Sergio Garcia.

The Lions capitalized on the numerical advantage and went ahead in the 27th minute courtesy leading scorer Rodrigo Tabata.

Slovakian international Vladimir Weiss restored parity for the Cheetahs in the 54th minute after he latched onto Johnson Kendrick's knock down heading pass.

Al Gharafa were dealt a big blow in the 79th minute as substitute midfielder Abdulmajid Al Diri headed home to hand Al Rayyan the ticket to the semi finals stage of the competition.

Sumaila, however played full throttle of the game for Habib Sadegh's side.