The Saudi national team is competing in the sixth Gulf Cup final against the UAE, searching for the first title in the final match

On Monday, the “Green Junior Girls” launches its campaign in the Asian Cup qualifiers against its Singaporean counterpart in Singapore.

Katerina Velda, coach of the women's national team, confirmed that the team pays attention to the development of female players and their growth on and off the field in this tournament.

She continued in her speech at the press conference that preceded the match: “In this tournament, we deal with each match separately, so that our players can give their best.”

Siwar Amr, the national team’s defender, expressed her pride in representing the country that gave her all the means of learning and development, noting that she must work hard to return the favor and give everything she has on the field.

The Saudi national team will meet its Indonesian counterpart on October 8, before concluding its matches against the Bahrain national team on October 11.

Al-Akhdar participated in his preparatory camp in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, with the participation of 24 players, including three female goalkeepers, seven players in the defense line, eight players in the midfield, and six players in the attack line, namely Dana Al-Binali, Talia Katbi, Maryam Al-Tayyar, Joan Al-Nassar, Diala Srouji, Rital Hakmi, Hawraa Jalal, Joud Al-Amoudi, Arwa Al-Rasheed, Remas Ahmed, Heba Abdul Rahman, and Sarah Al-Madani. Dima Ahmed, Hala Al-Shadoukhi, Rima Abdel Aziz, Ghala Saleh, Ghadi Al-Otaibi, Siwar Amr, Kenzi Alaa, Hoor Al-Farid, Dana Al-Dahyan, Sadeem Al-Suhaimi, Saadia Muhammad, and Zainab Reda.

Four players from the current Saudi national team are competing in the second Gulf final in their career, after having previously participated in the 2019 edition, which was held in Qatar against the Bahraini national team.

The quartet is represented by the players “Hassan Timbukti, Muhammad Kanno, Firas Al-Braikan and Abdullah Al-Hamdan,” who returned after six years to the final scene, but this time in front of the Emirati team and in Jeddah, amid a different ambition and desire to end the experience in a different way.

The 2019 final against Bahrain was an important milestone in the career of the four players, before the Saudi team lost the match and took second place. Since that final, their careers have witnessed remarkable development, and they have gained more experience with Al-Akhdar and in local, continental and international competitions.

Mohamed Kanno stands out as one of the experienced elements in the current group, while Hassan Timbukti has become one of the important names in the defense line.

The presence of Firas Al-Braikan and Abdullah Al-Hamdan also developed in the offensive line, so that the quartet returned to the final with more experience than was the case in their first experience.

The confrontation with the Emirates will give the quartet a special opportunity to end the memories of the Qatar final, as they enter the final battle with a clear goal of turning runner-up into a title, and lifting the cup that eluded them in their first experience.

Between the Qatar 2019 final and the Jeddah final, many names changed on the Saudi team’s roster, but four players kept their place in the final scene, so that the new final would be a second opportunity for them to write a different ending.

Timbukti, Kanno, Al-Braikan and Al-Hamdan are four players who carry the memory of the 2019 final, and they return today to the second final, hoping that Jeddah will witness their first coronation in the Gulf Cup.

The Saudi national team returns to the Gulf Cup final after a 7-year absence from the final scene, bringing with it a remarkable historical record this time. The confrontation with the Emirates, on Tuesday, will be Al-Akhdar’s sixth final match in the history of the tournament, after his previous five participations in the final ended in runner-up.

Al-Akhdar reserved his place in the “Gulf 27” final after defeating Qatar in the semi-finals on penalties 3-2, after the original and extra time ended in a goalless draw, to face the UAE, which qualified by defeating Oman 1-0. The final match will be held on Tuesday at Al-Enmaa Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.

The next match carries a different peculiarity in Saudi history with the Gulf Cup. Al-Akhdar won the championship three times, in 1994, 2002 and 2003, but his three titles came in versions that did not adopt a final decisive match to determine the champion, which makes facing the UAE an opportunity to achieve the first Saudi victory in a Gulf Cup final match.

The beginning of the Saudi Arabia story with the finals goes back to “Gulf 3” in 1974, when it reached the final match against Kuwait, in the first edition that witnessed a final round after the teams were divided into two groups. The confrontation was held in Kuwait on March 29, and ended with the Kuwaiti team winning 4-0, leaving Al-Akhdar content with second place.

After that final, the tournament system changed and competitions returned for long periods to the league system, which is the system that witnessed Saudi Arabia achieving its 3 titles. Therefore, it took Green 35 years to appear again in a final match.

The comeback came in “Gulf 19” in 2009 in Muscat, when the Omani team faced the home team. The regular and extra time ended in a goalless draw, before penalty kicks decided the title in favor of Oman with a score of 6-5, causing the Saudi team to lose the second final in its history.

The wait for Al-Akhdar was not long this time, as he returned less than two years later to the final match in the “Gulf 20”, which was hosted by Yemen in 2010. The opponent was Kuwait again, in a repeat of the 1974 final, and the confrontation ended on December 5 with Kuwait winning by a goal to no return, so that the Saudi finals at that time became 3, all of which ended in runner-up.

At “Gulf 22” in Riyadh in 2014, the Saudi team got a new opportunity to achieve the title in the final match, this time against Qatar. The confrontation was held on November 26, and ended with the Qatari team winning 2-1, causing Al-Akhdar to lose the fourth final, and the first it played on home soil.

As for the fifth and final appearance before the current edition, it was at “Khaleeji 24” in 2019 in Doha. The Saudi national team reached the final to face Bahrain on December 8, but Bahrain won the match with a goal without a goal, so that Al-Akhdar’s record in the final matches stopped at 5 matches without a victory.

Between Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, the previous five finals reveal a clear number: 5 matches, 5 runner-up times, only 3 goals scored by Al-Akhdar in those finals compared to 8 goals he received, with the result of the match being calculated before the penalty shoot-out in the 2009 final.

The Saudi national team also played in 5 finals against 4 different teams. Kuwait twice in 1974 and 2010, Oman in 2009, Qatar in 2014, and Bahrain in 2019. The UAE will thus be the fifth different team that the Greens will meet in a Gulf Cup final match.

The Saudi team enters the sixth final this time with a completely different defensive record than before, after finishing the group stage in “Gulf 27” with a full score, achieving 9 points from 3 victories over Kuwait 1-0, Oman 3-0, and Iraq 2-0, scoring 6 goals without conceding a goal.

The defensive record against Qatar continued in the semi-final, as the match ended without goals after 120 minutes before Al-Akhdar won the qualification on penalty kicks 3-2. Thus, the Saudi team reached the final match after playing 4 matches and 390 minutes of play without conceding a single goal, apart from penalty kicks.

The numbers that the final carries are not limited to the search for the first victory in a final match; Saudi Arabia enters the confrontation with the UAE in pursuit of the fourth Gulf title, after winning 1994, 2002 and 2003, which means that the last time Al-Akhdar lifted the cup dates back to 23 years. The Saudi national team currently has 3 titles, compared to 10 for Kuwait, 4 for Iraq, 3 for Qatar, and two titles for each of the Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.

The sixth final comes 7 years after Al-Akhdar’s last appearance in the final match in 2019, while it will be the second that he plays on his home soil after the 2014 Riyadh final, and the first in Jeddah.

Thus, the UAE’s confrontation puts the Saudi national team in front of more than one historical barrier in one night: ending the wait for the title that has extended since 2003, raising its tally to 4 titles, and most importantly changing a record that has remained constant through 5 finals extending from 1974 to 2019.

Fifty-two years after Al-Akhdar’s first final against Kuwait, he returns on Tuesday to the sixth final, this time against the Emirates, searching for a result he has never achieved before in the history of the Gulf Cup: to leave the final match a champion.