The Saudi national team began its campaign in the Gulf Cup Football Championship “Gulf 27” with a difficult victory over its Kuwaiti counterpart with a clean goal, in the match that was held on Wednesday evening at Al-Enmaa Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, as part of the first group competitions.
The only goal of the match came in the 73rd minute, following a shot from player Hammam Al-Hammami, which Kuwaiti defender Yousef Al-Haqqan accidentally diverted into the net of his goalkeeper Saud Al-Hoshan. With this result, “Al-Akhdar” topped the first group with 3 points, benefiting from a 1-1 draw between the Iraqi and Omani teams in the other match within the same group.
The first half witnessed a relative advantage for the Saudi team, which initiated the attack, and the 36th minute witnessed the cancellation of a goal by Muhammad Abu Al-Shamat after returning to call a foul on his colleague Muhammad Kannou in building the attack. On the other hand, the Kuwaiti team posed a threat to the Saudi goal through the attempts of player Muhammad Daham, so the first half of the match ended in a goalless draw.
With the start of the second half, the Saudi national team intensified its offensive pressure until it was able to snatch the lead goal with friendly fire. “Al-Akhdar” suffered a painful blow in the 77th minute when its goalkeeper, Nawaf Al-Aqidi, was injured, forcing him to leave the field and Mohammed Al-Owais enter instead.
In an attempt to respond, the Portuguese coach of the Kuwaiti national team, Hélio Sousa, resorted to making several tactical substitutions to equalize in the last minutes, but the Saudi defense and goalkeeper kept the field clean until the final whistle.
After the match, Al-Hammami, who was crowned the best player in the match, said: “It was a difficult match against a team that has a long history in Gulf championships, and we achieved an important victory at the beginning of our journey.” For his part, player Abdullah Al-Hamdan stressed that “the opening matches are always difficult, and the most important thing is that we achieved victory and got the three points.”
The second round competitions will continue next Saturday, where the Saudi team will meet its Omani counterpart, while the Kuwaiti team will face the Iraqi team. It is noteworthy that the Kuwaiti team tops the list of teams that have won the most Gulf Cup titles, with 10 titles, while the Saudi team has 3 titles in its possession.
