JEDDAH, 13 December 2004 — Despite being a soccer powerhouse and one of the early favorites, Saudi Arabia failed to find its rhythm in their 2-1 loss to Kuwait in the Group B opener of 17th Gulf Cup being played in Qatar and their performance disappointed its fans.
Saudi Arabia still have two more games to play, and the chances of them notching the needed wins against Yemen and Bahrain are bright. The new coach of the national team and former Argentine international, Gabriel Calderon, accepted responsibility for the shock defeat.
Many supporters of the Saudi team believe that the coach’s introduction of the inexperienced Abbdulatif Al-Ghanam instead of Khamees Al-Owairan was wrong. And the difference was evident in the score.
Saleh Al-Otaibi, a staunch follower of the Saudi team expressed his anger, while talking to Arab News, as saying: “This loss is shocking news. We were not even able to gain a draw with the Kuwaitis. We had only victory in our mind, hoping to collect three important points. But the results dragged us down.
“Group B is bit complicated as teams in this group are very high-profile. If Kuwait, in their next tie against Bahrain, win the results will be more complicated and will put us under more pressure. We would then have to win the rest of the group matches in order to qualify for second place.
“There are chances of Saudi Arabia’s qualification if both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia win their matches. Kingdom will be level with Kuwait and Bahrain in Group B, thus making the final match a very important one.”
“Kuwait won by the dint of luck,” said Muhsen Abdulrahman, while expressing his views.
“Kuwait cashed in on our mistakes. We squandered many chances. The first goal scored through Ahmad Al-Dokhi was deflected from the bar, while Tukar’s mistake allowed the second goal. And the biggest blunder was the missed penalty kick by Al-Shalhoub.
“These were the elements that led to our downfall. But still we have time to pick up our momentum and score big wins in the remaining matches,” said Muhsen.
Today, Oman will take on UAE in the first match. Oman are looking for an early qualification by winning this crucial tie. But UAE, who also had given tough time to Qatar in their opening game of Group A, are also hoping to qualify early.
In the second match, the hosts Qatar will play against Iraq. Iraq, who lost their opener against Oman 3-1, will try to erase their image woes witnessed against Qatar, who are also looking for a better result.
