The first round of the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup currently being held in Kuwait has established four historical facts that have not changed for many decades in the tournament, led by the homeowner’s complex at the opening, the Emirati White’s draws with the Qatari on Kuwaiti soil, the series of negative results for the Yemeni team without any victory, and the Yemeni team’s complex. Omani red to its Kuwaiti blue counterpart, extending for years.
The opening match
The Kuwaiti national team failed to break the knot in the opening matches for the hosts when it settled for a positive draw with its Omani counterpart 1-1, thus continuing the failure of the host countries’ teams for the 14th edition in a row.
The last time the host country’s national team won in the opening matches of the Gulf Cup was for the Emirati team, when it defeated Qatar in the opening of the “Gulf 12” in 2004, with two goals scored by Adnan Al-Taliani and Muhammad Ali Ghuloum. The host countries were satisfied with achieving a draw in nine matches, while It lost five matches in the opening matches of the Gulf Cup.
Historical complex
A new historical knot befell the Kuwaiti team after it was unable to achieve victory over Oman in 15 consecutive matches, which brought them together in the Arabian Gulf Cup.
“Al-Azraq” has not achieved a victory over its Omani counterpart in 26 years, since it defeated them 5-0 in 1998 in the “Gulf 14” championship, and after that they met in 15 matches, of which the Omani team won nine of them without any victory for Kuwait, and six matches ended. A draw between them.
“White” and “Burgundy”
The UAE’s match with Qatar was a historic spectacle, as neither of them was able to win against the other in the fourth confrontation that brought them together in the Gulf Championships that took place on Kuwaiti soil, as all the matches ended in a draw.
“Al-Abyad” had tied with Qatar at the opening of “Gulf 26” with a score of 1-1, as Al-Anabi took the lead through Akram Afif, before Yahya Al-Ghassani snatched the equalizer.
The Emirati and Qatari teams met for the first time on Kuwaiti soil, in the second edition of the tournament, and the match ended in a positive draw with one goal for each, with Salem Bushnin scoring for the Emirates team, and a draw for Qatar by Saif Ali, while the 1990 and 2003 editions were dominated by a negative draw.
No victories
The Yemeni team was unable to achieve any victory in the Arabian Gulf Cup, after losing its first match in the “Gulf 26” tournament to Iraq by an unanswered goal.
The Yemeni national team’s participation in the past 10 editions of the Gulf Cup was very weak, as it did not advance beyond the group stage in any of the previous editions.
The Yemeni national team played 34 matches in the Gulf Cup tournaments, drawing six of them and losing 28. Its players scored 12 goals, while they conceded 85 goals.
The Yemeni team achieved its best results during the “Gulf 22” edition in Saudi Arabia, as it was close to qualifying for the semi-finals, but it trailed by only one point behind the UAE in the runner-up of the first group, after obtaining two points from two draws and a loss.
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