JEDDAH, 30 January 2007 — The UAE have a score to settle with Oman when both teams do battle again today in the final of the 18th Gulf Cup Championship.
The last time the sides met was to open the tournament with Oman winning by 2-1 and now the tournament’s obvious top performers return to an even bigger stage where the championship trophy will be at stake.
The UAE will be looking to avenge that opening day defeat. On paper Oman looked to have the better pedigree as they make their second straight Cup final appearance.
In the 17th edition of the tournament Oman lost the final match 5-4 in penalty kicks against host Qatar. Oman do not want to experience the same feeling when they came so close and yet so far to making history in the Gulf Cup.
For both teams reaching the final is a chance that they might as well cash in if only for the fact that they have never won this prestigious tournament.
UAE are better than ever and they are playing their best football under French coach Bruno Metsu with full support from their fans.
The UAE players vow not to let the cup fly to Oman from their homeland similar to what happened in 1994 when Saudi Arabia brought home the trophy and again in the 1996 Asian Cup final also against the Saudis.
Once again, the key to victory lay in the foot and head of both teams’ strikers. In the UAE striking line is Ismaeel Matar who gave UAE victory against Kuwait in the last minute of the final match of Group A when he scored the third goal and also in the semifinal match against Saudi Arabia when he scored a historic goal in the waning moments of the match.
The Omani team must learn from the Saudi mistake of letting Matar go scot-free in the crucial moment. The precious few seconds that Matar found to launch his strike resulted in a goal and a ticket back home for the Saudis.
The road to the final was not easy for UAE team as they lost the group stage match against Oman. That did not stop the UAE from coming back in high spirits to win against Yemen 2-1. The final match of the group against Kuwait was a turning point for UAE as they played with more confidence and won the match 3-2.
The UAE team did not fear facing the strong Saudi team. Despite the fact that Saudi team are better and more experienced in pivotal matches UAE won with a last-gasp goal from Matar. The match against Oman will not be easy at all as unbeaten Oman is regarded as the strongest team in the competition.
Oman swept their Group A matches — all by 2-1 against UAE, Yemen and Kuwait. Oman faced a tough opponent in Bahrain in the semifinals but still won 1-0.
