Greek Georgios Donis, coach of the Saudi national team, excluded defender Hassan Kadesh from the “Green” camp held in Jeddah as part of the “Arabian Gulf Cup (Gulf 27)” football competitions, after medical examinations proved that he was not ready to participate.
The exclusion decision was based on the medical report of the results of the tests that Kadesh underwent on his thigh injury, which showed his need for a treatment and rehabilitation program during the coming period.
Kadish is the second player to leave the Saudi national team camp due to injury, after Donis previously excluded goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi due to an elbow injury he suffered during the match against Kuwait in the first round of the tournament.
Injuries continue within the ranks of the “Green” group. Alaa Al Hajji suffers from an injury that could keep him out of the field for more than 3 weeks, while the medical team is still evaluating the condition of defender Hassan Timbukti, after he showed signs of stress during the confrontation with Oman.
The Saudi Equestrian National Team is missing one of its most prominent riders in the 20th Asian Games, after Abdullah Al-Sharbatli’s absence from the show jumping competitions was confirmed following his 30-day suspension from the International Equestrian Federation. This absence represents a major loss for Al-Akhdar, given that Al-Sharbatli was one of the most prominent candidates to compete for the gold medal in Tokyo, based on his track record in Asia, and his being the individual gold holder in the last edition.
The official account of the Saudi team had previously announced Sharbatly’s participation in the list of the Green Knights in the Asian tournament, before he was replaced by the knight Saad Al-Ajmi following the suspension decision.
Sharbatly's suspension came after he received two warnings recorded in two different tournaments, in accordance with Article 259 of the rules of show jumping in 2026, which in this case relates to the detection of minor blood on the horse during participation, resulting in his suspension for a period of 30 days and his absence from Asian competitions.
Sharbatly has a remarkable record in the Asian Games. He previously won individual gold and team silver in Incheon 2014, and also won individual bronze in Jakarta 2018, before winning team and individual gold in Hangzhou 2022. Which made it one of the most important Saudi cards before the start of the current edition’s competitions.
In the context of preparing for the competitions, the delegation of the Saudi equestrian team arrived in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, on Sunday, in preparation for participating in the show jumping competitions that begin next Thursday.
Al-Akhdar is represented in the competition by Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi, Saad Al-Ajmi, Ramzi Al-Dahami, and Khaled Al-Mubti, amid aspirations to continue the strong Saudi presence in show jumping at the Asian Games level.
In its current participation, Saudi equestrian is looking to add an eleventh medal to its Asian record, after it began its journey in Doha 2006 with team gold, and maintained the title in Guangzhou 2010, in addition to individual gold for Ramzi Al-Dahami and bronze for Khaled Al-Eid.
In Inchon 2014, Saudi Arabia added the individual gold with Sharbatly and the team silver, then achieved the team gold and bronze with Sharbatly in Jakarta 2018, before winning the team and individual gold in Hangzhou 2022, the last with Sharbatly.
The UAE is looking forward to achieving its second victory in the 27th Gulf Cup held in Jeddah at the expense of title holder Bahrain, similar to Qatar, which faces wounded Yemen on Sunday, in a scenario that will ensure their passage from the second group to the semi-finals.
“Al-Abyad” achieved a wide victory over Yemen 4-0 at the start of its matches in “Gulf 27”, and “Al-Anabi” overthrew Bahrain 2-0, enhancing their chances of qualifying, before their meeting in the third and final round.
The UAE, which held the title in 2007 and 2013, failed to pass the group stage in the last three editions, but its convincing performance in the first meeting made it dominate the spotlight.
Croatia national team coach Zlatko Dalic called on his players to keep their feet on the ground and show “full respect for all competitors.”
Dalic, who succeeded in presenting the UAE national team well, in his first match under his leadership since assuming his duties in August as a replacement for Romanian Cosmin Olario, said: “We must not exaggerate the victory, as it is a small step in our journey in the tournament.”
He continued: “We always strive to be at the forefront. We have an important match (against Bahrain) for which we must prepare well. I previously stated that we will go through the tournament stage by stage, and our first goal is to qualify from the group stage.”
The 2018 World Cup runner-up played with Croatia in the first match against Yemen with a squad that included ten naturalized players, so dominance was clear in favor of the UAE, which achieved its biggest victory since defeating Oman 4-0 also in the “Gulf 5” in 1979.
Dalic said: “My job is to build a new team and play collectively, so I do not focus on the identity of the players, whether they are naturalized or Emirati. I include in the match the player who deserves to play, and I do not care where he comes from.”
Dalic can benefit from the services of Bala Guilherme after he missed the first match due to injury, as the Shabab Al-Ahly player can provide an offensive addition with Yuri Cesar and Bruno Oliveira, and Nicolas Jimenez, who scored a brace in the Yemen match.
Bahrain, which was crowned in the last edition with the second title in its history, may find itself outside the tournament if it suffers a second loss in a row when it meets the UAE, despite the promises of its Croatian coach Dragan Talajic of a third coronation.
Talajic hopes to erase the negative image in which “Al-Ahmar” appeared, apart from his great performance in “Gulf 26” in Kuwait.
Talajic said after the loss: “We made mistakes that caused the loss, and we will work to correct them in the next two matches.” I am proud of the team players and I have confidence in all of them to compensate against the Emirates.”
He continued: “There are 6 points that we will work to achieve in order to qualify, and we realize that the task has become relatively difficult, but we will fight for the six points.”
In the UAE match, the Bahraini team will rely on most of the players who participated against Qatar, but it will miss the efforts of Abbas Al-Asfoor, who was sent off in the Qatar match, after causing a penalty kick in stoppage time.
For its part, the Qatari team is seeking to ensure qualification to the semi-finals, when it meets its Yemeni counterpart, in a match that seems easy on paper.
The victory will be enough for Qatar to pass, if the UAE team overcomes or draws with its Bahraini counterpart in the second match.
Spaniard Julen Lopetegui, coach of Qatar, said: “Confronting Yemen cannot be easy, regardless of the opponent’s first appearance, as he is still a party to the calculations until now.”
He added: “It is true that we gained a lot of morale boosters after starting with a victory against a stubborn competitor and the holder of the title of the last edition, a victory that we have not achieved since November 2021, but we have not accomplished anything.”
In turn, the Yemeni team will enter the last chance match after the huge defeat against the UAE, to avoid officially leaving the competition.
Despite the strong start of the first match, armed with its historic series, having played the last eight official matches in all competitions without losing, Yemen collapsed due to the UAE’s offensive pressure.
Algerian Noureddine Ould Ali, coach of Yemen, said: “The first loss was a harsh lesson from which we must learn. I do not imagine that we will appear in this way again.”
He described what happened as “great collective negligence... and I can bear responsibility, but that match will not make me return to what the national team was five years ago.”
He continued: “We will wake up, and we will prepare as necessary for the match against Qatar, and we hope that we will be on time.”
