Kuwait coach Thamer Anad played down his team’s chances in the Arabian Gulf Cup that kicks off in Qatar on Tuesday, as the Kuwaitis continue their return to international competition after long suspensions that have hurt sport in the country.
Soccer’s governing body FIFA in December 2017 lifted a suspension order on Kuwait that it imposed in 2015 over what it called government interference in the game.
In August, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) lifted its separate ban on Kuwait after nearly four years. It had banned the country over a new sports law that it said interfered with the autonomy of the Olympic movement.
“I think everyone knows the conditions of the Kuwaiti team, the four-year suspension, the Kuwaiti sports problems,” Anad told a news conference ahead of Kuwait’s opening Group B match against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
“This certainly affected the sporting level of all the games, and even on the youth stages we saw a total absence of Kuwaiti teams for four years.”
“After suspension, there has to be a rebuilding process of teams in all sports,” said Anad, who took over in September following the dismissal of Croatian coach Romeo Jozak after defeat to Australia in the World Cup qualifiers.
“Kuwait are not favourites because of problems and suspension, (but) we are able to return Kuwait to its position.”
The country has won the competition a record ten times. It will face a weakened Saudi Arabia team playing without Al-Hilal players on Wednesday after the club’s Asian Champions League match in Japan on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia said two weeks ago that it would join the regional tournament, having initially decided to skip its 24th edition, which is being held in Qatar.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed political, trade and transport ties with Qatar in mid-2017 over accusations that it supported terrorism. Doha denies the charge.
The Saudi team were also hit by an injury to right-back Mohamed Al-Buraik incurred in Al-Hilal’s 2-0 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds in the Asian final’s second leg. Separately, Al-Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Owais withdrew from the squad after suffering a serious facial injury in a league match on Saturday.
“It doesn’t matter if we have some problems at the moment, but we have to deal well with these games and this is the most important thing. After the first game we will see what we can expect,” Saudi coach Herve Renard told reporters.
“Most of the players played on Saturday and Sunday (in the league)… but this is football. (Al-Nassr defender Abdullah) Madu was also injured, but this is part of football and we have to deal with it even if we don’t play with our best team”.
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Kuwait coach Thamer Enad said Gulf championships have not abandoned their traditions and were always pressured by the momentum that accompanies them.
Thamer congratulated, at the beginning of his talk, the Saudi Club Al Hilal for winning the Asian Champions League where he described this victory as a pride for the Gulf and all Arabs.
“We started the preparations in a foreign camp and then played the West Asian Championship and then played several games in the Asian double qualifiers. We are ready for the Gulf Cup which has no specific standards and we expect it to be difficult for everyone, as usual.”
On the first Gulf championship as coach of the Blue, he commented: “I am in front of a great responsibility and contemporary Gulf tournaments as a player, assistant coach and a coach and I know a lot about it is hidden. It is very difficult off the pitch because of the privacy that no one is unaware of, and this is a wonderful feeling to contend the tournament this time as a coach for the Kuwaiti team.”
He continued: “Gulf championship started before the whistle of referees and this is the nature of the momentum that accompanies them as you can see now in the press conference – a championship that makes everyone lives under great pressure.”
As he put it: “Everyone knows the conditions of the Kuwaiti team because of the suspension for four years and the problems of Kuwaiti sports in all sectors, and these conditions are clear and I say that Kuwait is far from the competition now but inevitably will return as it was in the past.”
Concerning the timing of the tournament: “The timing of the tournament may not be appropriate as it came immediately after the Asian qualifiers, and I needed time to choose the players and analyze their performance at least after two months, but that remains my personal opinion.”
Kuwaiti goalkeeper Hamid Al-Qallaf said that there is no single candidate to win the Gulf title in his speech at the press conference before facing the Saudi team for the second group in the Gulf 24.
He said: “This is an important tournament and it is close to our hearts. It represents a big thing for us, and the Saudi team is known to all and has a history and long-standing in the region.”
On the impact of the suspension on the players, Qallaf said: “We stopped for four years and for sure it has a significant impact on the Kuwaiti football.”
As for his opinion on the competition during this tournament: “The tournament is very difficult and the second group is really difficult because of the presence of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain. However, the competition remains open to qualify for the semi-finals and overall there is no single candidate to win the title
Marvik is pleased with the performance against Yemen
UAE coach Van Marwijk said he was satisfied with the performance of his team in the opening match of the 24th Gulf Championship against Yemen, after winning (3-0).
“Our team showed up well in different positions and we could have scored more than three goals,” he said at the briefing after the match.
On the impact of the result of the Iraq-Qatar match, which ended (2-0) to Iraq, he said: “There will be no impact on us, we prepare for each game separately, our game with Iraq a different story, and we will prepare well.”
Al-Na’ash: experience made the difference in this game
Yemeni coach Sami Al-Na’ash attributed the defeat of his team against UAE to the factor of experience in the first place, stressing that the differences were simple and due to the lack of experience of his players.
“We made a good game, although our team is made up of young players and some of them are participating for the first time, but they made a good match,” he told the post-match press conference.
He added: “We tried as much as possible to change the form of the team to be free from the defense and have an initiative towards attack and create opportunities, but each game has mistakes, and our players did some mistakes in monitoring the attack within the region. If we watched the game, we will see that there were no real opportunities for UAE, they took advantage of our defensive errors and lack of control, and of course the experience of Ali Mabkhout with the three goals”.
Al-Naash defended the squad that entered the game, stressing that it is the best at the moment, and said: “We prepared the team in a short time and strengthened the team with young elements, the difference in the game was made by the factor of experience.”
UAE beats Yemen with Mabkhout’s hattrick
The United Arab Emirates started their journey in the 24th Gulf Championship, beating Yemen with a clean three-goal by Ali Mabkhout, in the game played at Abdullah Khalifa Stadium.
The first 15 minutes passed with UAE’s superiority in possession of the ball, and trying to score a quick goal amid a few attempts by Yemeni players who relied on single playing that did not succeed until the 19th minute, when UAE scored the first goal through Ali Mabkhout, who invested a cross from Bandar Ahbabi to put it in the net of Salem Awad.
After that, Yemen struggled to get out of their areas, until Abdulwasea Al-Matari’s free-kick hit the wall, followed by another attempt in the 35th minute from the same player with a header that went outside the goal.
With Yemen’s meager attempts, Ali Mabkhout returned to score the second goal in the 39th minute after his teammates led a rebound that reached Bandar Al Ahbabi, who sent a cross to Khalfan Mubarak. His shot hit Yemen’s defender to be completed by Mabkhout in the Yemeni goal.
In the 53rd minute, Ali Mabkhout returned to score his third goal after a pass from Khalfan Mubarak.
In the 82nd minute, the UAE substitute Khalil Ibrahim Yazid Al Ghala almost scored the fourth goal but Yemen goalkeeper’s Salem Awad stopped it.
The UAE team completed the last five minutes with 10 players after the injury of defender Hamdan Al Kamali, who preferred the technical staff not to return to the game despite the exhaustion of substitutions until the end of the match, which was won by UAE. The match was attended by a total of 1,437 fans.
Katanic: Nothing has been decided yet
Slovenia coach Strijko Katanic was delighted to beat the host of the Gulf 24 version at the start of the journey.
“At the start of the game we were not good and we had a lot of pressure. But that is how football is. When more opportunities are missed, you may receive goals and that was what happened. We scored and looked for the second goal and found it in time,” he said.
He added: “At the beginning of the second half we received that goal in a difficult time and I needed to make some changes and I did. We were lucky that Qatar missed opportunities in front of the goal.”
“We played under difficult circumstances and it is known to all. We have to look forward to the future and we should be ready. We have made a good start but nothing has been resolved. We have to concentrate on the next two games.”
Katanic stressed that the Qatari team was not bad, describing their performance as strong and praised their coach Sanchez.
Iraq defeats Qatar in the opening of the Gulf 24
The match between the Iraqi team and its Qatari host ended with the former’s 2-1 win at the opening of the Gulf 24 at Khalifa International Stadium.
The start was Qatari through the last AFC Asian Cup top scorer Almoez Ali, who fired the first shot in the first minute and repeated the action four minutes later with a close shot to the goalkeeper Jalal Hassan.
Ten minutes passed, Iraq was able to get rid of the Qatari pressure for the first time after Muhannad Ali shot at the Qatari goal but his ball missed the net and turned into a corner that bounced back on Iraq directly, when Afif led the attack and passed it to Abdul Karim Hassan, the best player in Asia 2018, and the last fired strongly in the net.
After quarter of an hour, the game became a debate. Two minutes later, the young Iraqi Mohammed Qassem shot a corner that surprised the Qatari defense and its goalkeeper to hit the net for the first time in the Gulf 24.
Qatar tried to return by intensifying their attacks. While Al-Aamad was looking for a draw, Mohammed Qassim fired a powerful shot that shook Qatar goal again in the 27th minute.
The first card in the match appears at 43 minutes in the face of Mohammad Reza Al-Alawi, and Swiss referee Lionel Cheddi announces the final whistle of the first half with the superiority of the Black Mesopotamia 2-0.
At the beginning of the second half, Qatar coach Sanchez made a change with the departure of Yousef Abdul Razzaq and the entry of Abdulaziz Hatem in the middle in search of overcoming the difference and return to the game.
Most of Qatar’s strength was in the front and they almost tied draws on two occasions, while the Iraqi coach Katanic was trying to absorb the Qatari enthusiasm by a change in the midfield through the entry of Amjad Atwan instead of the two goals scorer Mohammed Qassim, followed by another change, the entry of Saad Nateq instead of Hassan Hammoud.
Sanchez throws the attacker card by Mohamed Muntari’s in place of the defender Tariq Salman in order to intensify the front area in the middle of the second half. The pressure of the Addam continues as the quarter-hour approaches and Jalal Hassan defends his team-mate Jalal Hassan’s miscalculation.
The stadium hosted a crowd of 37,890 spectators. At the time of quarter of an hour, Katanic chooses Safa Hadi to strengthen the Iraqi center.
Substitute defender Bassam Al-Rawi was seriously injured. He came out of the stadium and was replaced by Salem Al-Hajri in a final change for Sanchez, six minutes from the match end.
Jorge Boualem’s head-kicked two minutes before the end of the match and Jalal Hassan stood in front of it valiantly. Chery gave Ahmed Ibrahim a yellow card and Omani referee Omar Yaacoubi raised an additional eight minutes. Khalifa International Stadium was ignited with the enthusiasm of the fans. Iraq wasted an easy opportunity and Qatar did the same at the second minute added.
The next few minutes did not bring anything, and the game ended with a 2-1 win for Iraq.
An elegant ceremony on the day of the festive Gulf gathering
Qatari folklore launched the Gulf wedding by dancing to the tune of the Gulf tournament, which is approaching its fifth decade.
A quarter of an hour after the start of the elegant ceremony, the lights that dominated the pitch stole all the attention, amid the rhythms that have been heard in the Gulf since the 1970s, which is a symbol of brotherhood among the peoples of the region.
Thereafter, all the 23 previous tournaments and heroes were reviewed in a light and laser show on the stadium. Clips were shown of the most prominent past versions of Gulf championships, especially the ones hosted by Qatar (three times) – in 1976, 1992 and 2004 – and recalled the most prominent moments that are still stuck in the minds of Qataris in particular.
His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, officially announced the launch of the Gulf 24th competition.
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