JEDDAH, 11 January 2004 — Bahrain turned in a superlative display in Kuwait City yesterday to gain second spot behind Saudi Arabia in the 16th Gulf Cup Soccer Tournament with a 4-0 thrashing of hosts Kuwait.
Bahrain rounded off their campaign on a victorious note, while Kuwait completed a miserable tourney in which they had held out high hopes at the outset. The victory gave Bahrain 13 points, one less than Saudi Arabia, and snapped a lock on the second position. Kuwait finished with five points.
The match was in Bahrain’s control throughout, with Kuwait displaying flashes of brilliance.
Nohair Shammari and Badr Al-Motawa were the pick of the Kuwaiti strikers, but their individual efforts foundered on the rock-solid Bahrain defense. With Talal Yousif striking home in the seventh minute to give Bahrain the lead, the match as a contest ended.
Alaa Hobail scored the second in the 18th and the teams changed ends with Bahrain 2-0 up. A 51st minute goal from Muhammad Salmeen and another goal from Yousif in the 65th minute dashed whatever hopes Kuwait might have entertained of making a match of it.
Today, Yemen take on UAE and Oman play Qatar in their final engagements.
