The Gulf Football Association affirmed its continued and permanent support for the President of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, and will continue this support during the coming period.
In an official statement, the Gulf Federation praised the role played by Infantino in leading the International Federation and supporting the process of developing football at various levels.
Infantino was subjected to severe criticism after presenting his plan to privatize the commercial rights of FIFA tournaments, most notably the World Cup, which prompted him to withdraw from it a few days after presenting the idea last July.
The European Football Association (UEFA) is leading the attack on Infantino and the attempt to oust the FIFA president, who has held his position since 2016.
It is noteworthy that Infantino will run in the FIFA presidential elections for the fourth time next March, while his rivals have a deadline of November 18 to propose an alternative candidate.
The 27th Gulf Cup tournament in Jeddah, on Wednesday, will witness a heavy-caliber confrontation, bringing together the UAE and Qatar, in the second group.
The match is of great importance as it is the summit match to break up the partnership and determine the leader of the group, after both teams succeeded in officially qualifying for the semi-finals with full marks, with 6 points from two consecutive victories.
Leading the group gives its owner a great moral and organizational advantage to avoid facing the leaders of the first group in the golden square, which puts the two teams under pressure to provide a high-level technical performance befitting the reputation of Gulf and Asian football.
The UAE national team enters the match in high spirits, after achieving two victories. The first came at the expense of Yemen by four, before defeating the Bahrain national team, the host of the match, and eliminating it from the tournament.
The UAE national team became the highest scoring team in the tournament with 7 goals, and it also kept a clean sheet, which reflects the ideal technical and physical readiness of the team at the present time.
On the other hand, the Qatari team will try to enter the match with its usual calm, as it began its tournament campaign by defeating Bahrain with two unanswered goals in the first round, then narrowly defeated Yemen with a clean goal in the second round.
The UAE's performance in the first two matches gave the team wide praise under the leadership of their Croatian coach, Zalatko Dalic, who achieved many achievements with his country's national team previously, and seeks to impose a new reality with the UAE national team.
On the other hand, the Qatar national team played the tournament with a somewhat conservative performance, trying to save its efforts for the next stages of the tournament after qualifying for the semi-finals.
After the fate of the group is decided through that match, the first-place team will play in the semi-finals with the second-place team in the first group, while the second-place team will play a match with the home team and the leader of the first group, the Saudi national team.
In the historical record of the confrontations between the two teams, the Qatari team, which won the title three times, most recently in 2014, appears to have been superior to the Emirati team, which won the title twice, the last of which was in 2013.
The two teams met in 21 matches in the Gulf Cup, the Qatar team won 9 matches, the UAE team won 5 matches, and won 6 matches.
Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal City Stadium will also host a confrontation of a purely moral nature that brings together the Bahraini national team and its Yemeni counterpart.
The two teams enter the match after it was confirmed that they were officially eliminated from the calculations for qualifying for the semi-finals, after each of them received two successive defeats in the first and second rounds against Qatar and the Emirates. The two tickets to the golden square from this group were limited to the Emirates and Qatar teams, who scored 6 full points.
Although the confrontation has lost its numerical importance in the calculations of promotion, it carries great importance for the two teams, which are looking for an honorable victory that will avoid them ending the tournament at the bottom of the standings and reconcile their angry fans.
The Bahraini national team, which entered this edition as the defending champion after winning the previous edition in Kuwait, is going through extremely complex technical and administrative circumstances and a series of sharp media and public criticism.
The Bahraini “Red” began their campaign with a disappointing first loss to Qatar with two unanswered goals, in a match that witnessed serious defensive errors that cost the team points in the match. Croatian coach Dragan Talajic did not succeed in rectifying the situation during the second round, and then suffered another defeat, this time by 3-0, against the UAE.
On the other hand, the Yemeni team enters the confrontation under similar circumstances in terms of results, but different in terms of the ceiling of expectations. The team had begun its journey in the tournament with a heavy loss to the UAE 1-4 in the first round, in a match in which the technical and physical difference between the two sides became clear.
Despite receiving a heavy defeat in the first match, the Yemeni team showed a strong reaction and strong resistance in the second round against its Qatari counterpart, before losing by a single goal in a match that witnessed the brilliance of Mohammed Aman, the Yemeni goalkeeper.
While the match will be a last opportunity for Croatian coach Talajic to reorganize the team and achieve a moral victory, it will be an investment in the high spirits of the Yemeni side, after the team performed well despite the defeat in the first two matches.
Leading the group gives its owner a great moral and organizational advantage to avoid facing the leader of the first group in the golden square.
Spaniard Julen Lopetegui confirmed that he will be keen to monitor all information related to his opponent in the 27th Gulf Cup semi-final in Jeddah.
The Qatar coach stressed the importance of focusing on details during the confrontation with the UAE on Wednesday, stressing that the competitor is considered one of the most prominent candidates in the tournament.
He said: “The UAE national team is one of the most important candidates, and we must focus on ourselves, and we will take care to focus on the minute details. "We don't have much time to prepare, but we must be ready."
He touched on the change in Akram Afif’s position during the recent matches, after he appeared more deep in the field in terms of attack, explaining that the player made sacrifices in order to serve the team in this position.
He added: “Akram Afif made a number of sacrifices by playing in this position. He is a player who can score, and we created many chances. I am happy with his performance and the performance of the rest of the players.”
The Qatar national team coach stressed that he was not concerned about Afif’s position deep in the field, stressing the necessity of maintaining the team’s collective performance, as it is the most important factor in the next stage of the tournament.
In turn, Croatian Zalatko Dalic, the coach of the UAE national team, stressed his adherence to his technical plan before facing the Qatar national team, stressing that his main goal is to achieve victory.
During the press conference for the match, Dalic spoke about the possibility of changing his plan, explaining that this is not his style, and that the team seeking to win the title must be prepared to win against any competitor.
The UAE coach said that he is following the teams of Group A, stressing that all participating teams possess competitive capabilities, and that the semi-final confrontation will be against a team that has previously participated in the World Cup.
Dalic touched on the atmosphere within the UAE national team, noting that there is a state of solidarity and motivation among the players, describing the group as “one family.”
He added that he expected to reach this level after about 6 months of work, but he expressed his happiness at achieving significant progress in just 10 days, which, from his point of view, reflects the positive spirit that prevails in the team.
Regarding the technical and physical preparations, the Emirates coach confirmed the presence of some fatigue among the players, in light of playing a match every three days, explaining that the pressure of matches represents a challenge for the technical staff, which seeks to deal with it by giving the opportunity to some elements who did not participate regularly.
Dalic revealed Cesar's absence from the match against Qatar, due to his injury, stressing that his absence represents a loss for the team due to his distinguished capabilities.
He stressed the importance of the Gulf Cup and the strength of the upcoming confrontation, pointing out that the players are well aware of the extent of the responsibility placed on their shoulders, and that they do not need additional motivation, in light of everyone’s desire to achieve victory and continue the journey towards the title.
For his part, Ali Sal, the UAE national team player, said that all the players are in a state of intense concentration before the match.
He added in the press conference: “We have a great focus before facing Qatar, and we seek to provide a performance that satisfies the Emirati fans in order to achieve victory.”
