Coverage of the 27th Gulf Cup semi-finals and international friendly matches

Croatian Zlatko Dalic, coach of the UAE national team, stressed the difficulty of facing Oman in the semi-finals of the Arabian Gulf Cup (Gulf 27), pointing out that his team studied its opponent well, especially its strong reaction in the last minutes of its confrontation against Kuwait.

Dalic said in the pre-match press conference: “We will face a respectable and strong team, and we studied Oman well, especially what they presented in the last 20 minutes against Kuwait. Many did not expect him to qualify, but he showed a great reaction, and his coach did a wonderful job.”

He added: “We are in the semi-finals, and I am happy with the way we have played so far and what the players have presented. Many say that we are among the favorites, but our focus is on confronting Oman, and we are moving step by step, and then we will see what happens.”

Dalic refused to consider the difference in rest between the two teams as an excuse before the confrontation, explaining: “Oman got an extra day of rest, but we did what we had to do, and we rested a number of players against Qatar. “There are no excuses, and we will work to the best of our ability.”

The Croatian coach stressed the importance of the tournament and the difficulty of competing for its title, saying: “The Gulf Cup is an important tournament, and all coaches are working hard to reach the final. Two days are enough to regain energy, and it is not easy to win this cup. We have to work hard and control the match because we will face a strong team.”

For his part, Khalifa Al Hammadi, the UAE national team player, confirmed his team’s readiness for the confrontation, and said: “We respect all competitors, but our greatest focus is on ourselves. We are ready as a group to give our best and reach the final.”

The Spanish coach of the Qatari national team, Julian Lopetegui, confirmed that his team came to the Arabian Gulf Cup “Gulf 27” with the aim of competing for the title, stressing that facing the Saudi national team in the semi-finals represents a test against the “strongest opponent” in the tournament, while revealing that Akram Afif is suffering from a health problem that may prevent him from participating in the match.

Lopetegui said, during the press conference preceding the confrontation: “We are ready after the two days of preparation that were given to us, during which we worked on recovery, which is the most important point. The lineup is clear to us and the players are ready. “We will face a strong opponent, the host team, in front of a large number of fans, and this gives us great motivation.”

The Qatar coach revealed the doubts surrounding Akram Afif’s participation, saying: “Akram is suffering from a health problem, and I do not know yet whether he will participate tomorrow or not.”

Lopetegui refused to consider the Saudi public presence as a factor of pressure on his players, stressing that playing in front of full stands will give his team additional motivation. He said: “We have experience in playing in front of fans, and we are fortunate that the stadium will be full, because that will increase our enthusiasm.” We know that they will come to support their team, but this does not put pressure on us, but rather gives us additional motivation.”

He added: “There are no excuses in this match. Our focus is on playing and trying to outperform the opponent. The confrontation is difficult and time was limited to prepare, but we have to defend well and attack sharply, and we have the physical, mental and tactical strength necessary for that.”

Regarding the Qatari national team being considered a candidate for supremacy, given its experience and its previous victory in the Asian Cup, Lopetegui said in response to Asharq Al-Awsat’s question: “History is important, but we are talking about reality now. We want to compete, and despite the injuries and lack of time, there are no excuses. We have high confidence and we want to play a good match, and if we succeed in beating the Saudi team, that will be a wonderful thing.”

The Spanish coach defended the level presented by his team during the tournament, saying: “We created many chances to score, and therefore I have a different opinion from those who say that the Qatari team did not perform well. We have the mentality and strength to compete, and the proof is that we are in the semi-finals. Our focus now is on facing Saudi Arabia in front of about 55,000 fans, and this represents an incentive for us.”

Lopetegui stressed that Qatari participation does not aim to simply try out new elements, and said: “We did not come here just to play. We take the tournament seriously, and we don’t just want to have fun, we want to win and give our best, and we are not thinking now about anything that comes after this match.”

He added: “We came here to win the cup. We played a number of matches and made a great effort, and the current step is the semi-finals. We will face the strongest opponent in this tournament, but we have great energy. “It is difficult in football to play four or five matches in a short period, but we are ready for that.”

For his part, Abdulaziz Hatem, the Qatari national team player, confirmed that the morale of the players was high before the confrontation, and said: “We are prepared with high morale, and everyone is ready. We had two days to prepare and our focus was entirely on achieving qualification, and we realize the difficulty of facing the host country.”

Regarding the stage that the Qatari team is going through, Hatem said: “The World Cup period is different from what we are currently experiencing. We have new elements and we are going through a transitional phase, and this tournament is different, and our goal in it is different from the World Cup. We want to compete, and this is our mentality.”

Hatem indicated that he was looking forward to playing in front of a large crowd, adding: “It is wonderful to play in front of more than 50,000 fans, and everyone is waiting for this confrontation.”

The Lebanese football team achieved a massive victory over the Maldives national team 6-0, including a hat-trick by its star Hussein Shukroun, in the first of its two friendly international matches in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

At Dolin Omurzakov Stadium, the “Cedar Men” dominated the match from the beginning, as their first chance came in the 3rd minute after a cross from Badr Qawam, followed by Jimmy Kazan, and goalkeeper Hussein Sharif blocked it. But the same minute brought the first goal for the Lebanese when Hassan Sorour snatched the ball from Amdhan Ali and played it quickly to Shukroun, who converted it with a powerful shot that bounced off the left post and into the net.

Lebanon strengthened its possession after Kyrgyz referee Alimadrun Bainzarov raised the red card in the face of Maldives captain Samouh Ali after he was attacked by striker Leonardo Shaheen alone outside the penalty area (11).

The second goal came in the 36th minute when Jimmy Kazan fired a shot from outside the area that bounced off Shukroun and deceived the Maldivian goalkeeper.

Not even 5 minutes had passed until Shukroun completed the hat-trick after playing a forehand ball to Sami Merhej that was cleared by the defense and returned to him, so he shot it directly into the net.

Before the start of the second half, Algerian coach Madjid Bougherra made five substitutions in his squad. One of the substitutes, Hassan Kaafarani, was behind the fourth goal in the 53rd minute after his cross rebounded from defender Hassan Rachid into the net.

The other substitute, Wahbi Fawaz, was close to adding the fifth goal after a cross pass from Mahmoud Zbib. He shot it from close range and it bounced off the crossbar, before he himself passed the ball to the unmarked Ali Qassas, who shot it to the right of the goalkeeper, adding the fifth goal (83).

The scene was repeated in the second minute of stoppage time, when Fawaz headed a high ball to Qassas, who had no difficulty placing it into the net easily.

The Lebanese national team will play its second match in Kyrgyzstan against the host country next Sunday.